


The Nature of the Game

by goldshard



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Biting, Blood Drinking, Blood Kink, Character Death, Fanart Included, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, International Fanworks Day 2016, Kidnapping, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Slow Burn, Unhealthy Relationships, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-20 20:11:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 68,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6023158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldshard/pseuds/goldshard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After many long years, Sugawara Koushi returns to Japan to spend time with his former fledgling. However, when he gets home he finds his protégé has engaged in a relationship with a foulmouthed human, and can’t take him in. </p><p>He forms an acquaintance with an enthralling human, but finds himself entirely enamored and thirsting for his blood. Things go from dangerous to out of control when his creator hunts him down, looking for his support in a national power grab.</p><p>Story by goldshard, comics by sad--luck.</p><p>Please note content warnings in tags.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Vampire and His Fledgling

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warning: Please take notes of the story tags: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Blood Drinking, Character Death, Vomiting, Unhealthy Relationships, Kidnapping, and Implied/Referenced Non-Consensual Drug Use. This story does portray an unhealthy, and at times abusive, relationship. I would implore that abuse survivors/victims take caution while reading.
> 
> This fanfiction does include the death of a supporting character. Since it is not the death of a protagonist, Major Character Death is not tagged, but please take note if this content may upset you.
> 
> The vampires in this story do not operate by any specific lore or canon.
> 
> I did take some of the vampires aspects from popular culture/belief (they need permission to enter a home, for example), but there are others that I left out (they do have reflections, again, for example).
> 
> Other aspects are of my own creation.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> EDIT 6/1/2017: All chapters with artwork have been updated to reflect the artist's url change to sad--luck.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koushi returns to Japan, and has an unwelcome surprise. Daichi has a pretty boring job.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy the first chapter of The Nature of the Game.

ACT ONE

_ i _

Koushi once met a vampire who hated to kill.

Koushi had always been a wanderer, and he supposed he met far more of his kind than most others did. Nobody knew how many vampires existed, but when he spoke to others he deduced that there were far more vampires who preferred to lead solitary existences, shrouded in the anonymity of a large enough city, than those like he who walked the world.

Koushi had refined himself in the last century. He no longer walked the highways, he hitchhiked. Sometimes he drank his driver dry and drove the car the rest of the way to their destination. Sometimes he didn't make off with blood, but did leave with money or other valuables. Sometimes he didn't harm the human at all.

He met a vampire who disgusted him in Rome.

Koushi had no real way to sense another vampire—his hair didn't rise in their presence, he didn't feel a drag towards them, there were no discernible characteristics. But he had a feeling when he looked at another soul and knew they were a vampire. Perhaps it was a common intuition.

They found each other on a deserted side street somewhere around eleven in the morning. Truly, the other had found Koushi. Koushi had been tucked under a ledge taking a nap.

The other vampire awoke him, and asked, “Are you a resident of Rome?”

“I'm only a nomad,” Koushi told him, “I'm headed towards Germany.”

The other vampire, a stocky man with blond hair then sighed, and started to get up.

“Why does my residency matter?” Koushi asked. “I do not like to be so easily dismissed.”

“I'm trying to recruit vampires of Rome to my cause,” the other man vampire said.

“Your cause,” Koushi said, raising an eyebrow.

“To overthrow the coven that chains all of us in this city,” he said, “and to live without massacring her people,” the other said. He moved his hands theatrically as he spoke.

“To live without killing? What, do you want an order of vampires and their human blood bags?” Koushi asked.

“No, no. Blood bags are not a solution. They either end up so out of their minds they're good as dead anyways, or they become fledglings, furthering our scrounge on the Earth.”

So he was of the self loathing sort. Koushi knew that kind well, he was one himself.

“Then what do you mean?” he asked. He remained skeptical.

The man sat down and opened a satchel bag that hung from his shoulder. He pulled out a clear bag about a litre in volume, sealed tight. Inside the bag sloshed dark red liquid. It was labeled, “ _ ab positive _ ”.

“Literal blood bags,” the man said. “The humans collect it themselves. It is ours for the taking, really,” he looked pleased with himself, and he tossed the bag into Koushi's lap.

Koushi looked at the man in the disgust, gripping the bag tightly. He said, “You solve nothing.” He narrowed his eyes and frowned deeply at the man, and then he squeezed just the extra bit tighter. The plastic did not stand up to the job, and the bag popped open on one side, blood spilling over Koushi's hand and onto his pants. The pop only released a portion of the bag’s contents, but it was enough to soak his thighs. At least his pants were dark. “You think you're living without killing?” he asked, a scowl on his face.

The vampire at least had the wits not to answer Koushi.

“You only spare yourself the guilt of watching the human die in your arms,” Koushi snarled. “All you have done is killed the human that needed that transfusion.”

He balled his blood soaked hand into a fist, grabbed his backpack, and walked away. He didn't stop walking.

He had never since returned to Rome.

_ ii _

Koushi pounded his fist relentlessly on the hard wood door. He could help but let his eyes wander to the name on a plaque that hung next to it, two kanji. 「日向」, it read. Koushi was so happy to be in Japan again, he couldn't help but realize.

After a few long minutes, the door opened. “That was a bit obnoxious,” said the house's occupant. Hinata. Koushi smiled at his former fledgling, and said, “I wanted your attention.”

“Hmmph,” Hinata said, and then turned, to walk away.

“Uhh, Hinata? Are you just going to leave me outside?” Koushi asked.

“Oh, sorry Suga,” the other said. “I forgot. Come on in.”

The elder vampire then stepped over the threshold and into the little house. He took off his shoes, and followed Hinata a bit further in. “So where have you been?” Hinata asked.

“I was wandering around the Toronto area for a few years,” Koushi replied. “I was getting sick of it though. I got another passport forged and bought a plane ticket back to Japan. Then I followed my pull to you here into Miyagi.”

Koushi had not created Hinata. He'd found the vampire, then a fledgling, on the verge of death many long years ago and had raised him. The bond that Hinata was meant to form with his anonymous creator had instead linked the two of them.

“How long have you been living in this house? These smaller areas make you more visible,” Koushi scolded gently.

“Only a few years,” Hinata said. “I'm thinking about places to live in Tokyo, actually,” he went on, “I miss the city life when I'm in the country, when I'm in the city I miss the country.”

Koushi smiled. “Perhaps you're just too much like me,” he said thoughtfully. He was never pleased to be sedentary.

The smaller vampire stepped closer, and said, “I missed you, but I couldn't contact you. It was sad.”

“I'm here now,” Koushi replied to his former fledgling. He couldn't help but fondly pet his hand through the other's bright ginger locks.

The smaller got on his tiptoes and leaned in, and Koushi squeezed his shoulders as his teeth penetrated the skin of his neck. “Hinata, Hinata,” Koushi said, catching the other's attention.

“Oh. We can't do that anymore. I'm sorry,” Hinata said.

“No, no it's fine,” Koushi said, “I know it makes you feel safe. I just want to sit down,” he laughed.

They moved to sit on a couch in Hinata's tiny living room, and the younger once again latched onto Koushi's neck, drinking slowly, his eyes shut.

Fundamentally, Koushi's blood was nutritionally useless to Hinata, and had been for the many decades on decades that Hinata had been a full grown vampire. But Koushi had raised Hinata, and the younger felt a deep connection towards him for that reason. With no memories of his human life or his creator, Koushi had been the only caregiver Hinata ever knew.

So what if Hinata still engaged in some childish behaviors? Koushi had the blood to spare.

After a few long minutes Hinata pulled away, licked his lips, and shyly said, “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Koushi said, ruffling Hinata's hair again. The other vampire batted his arm away. “Here's the thing though, could I stay with you while I'm in Japan? I'd like the treat of sleeping on a couch for a few weeks straight instead of the pavement.”

“Um, well...” Hinata began, but he was cut off by a booming voice.

“Hinata, dumbass, where are you?”

A human trudged down the stairs. Koushi gave Hinata a dirty look immediately. What reason could Hinata possibly be hoarding a human in his house?

“Who the hell is that?” the human asked belligerently, pointing at Koushi.

“Tobio, calm down,” Hinata said, getting off the couch. “Tobio, this is Suga, the vampire who raised me. Suga this is—”

Koushi cut Hinata off. “You're keeping a  _ blood bag _ ?”

_ iii _

Daichi worked off the beaten path. The coffee shop was tucked away in a kind of creepy part of town, but it was a decent job. Jobs were jobs.

He polished the outside of their espresso machine with a microfiber, keeping his eyes on the door. It looked like no one was coming yet. The shop had opened half an hour ago, and only seen a few customers, but it wasn't even seven thirty yet. The people would come.

At 7:25, the door jingled and Daichi dropped his phone back in his apron pocket.

He glanced at the new arrival and saw that it was Noya's regular. He was really tall and had longer, dark hair, but for the life of him, Daichi could not remember his name.

“Hey!” Daichi greeted him. “How are you?”

Noya's regular glanced up and down the counter, probably noting that Noya wasn't present. His eyes lingered near the door to the back, as he said, “I'm fine. You?”

“Never been better,” Daichi lied, and then said “Noya's not in today. What can I get you?”

Noya's regular blushed fiercely, and Daichi smirked. Noya honestly thought this guy didn't like him? Please. The man ordered a cappuccino.

Daichi ground up the espresso beans, crushed the grounds and put them in the machine. He poured out the milk, and started the machine as he pressed the pump to froth the milk. He poured it all in, and put the cup on the counter for Noya's regular. “That'll be five hundred yen,” Daichi told him.

He gave Daichi a five hundred yen coin, and said, “Thank you.”

“No problem. I think Noya's are better than mine, though.”

The man blushed again, and went to sit at the counter by the window while he drank.

Daichi hated Tuesdays—it was the one day of the week that he was stuck working here alone. He trudged on through the morning shift, but noticed that a few customers were lost due to the massive line up that was collected at 7:45, and at 8:50. But the people he did managed to serve were without complaint.

Finally, at 2 o'clock, Ennoshita arrived to take the afternoon shift, and Daichi was free. He grabbed his coat and messenger bag from the back room, and took the back exit of the shop.

That's when he noticed a man was in the narrow alleyway.

This wasn't uncommon. Every once in awhile when he was on his way to or from work he'd spot a hobo in the alley. It was a secluded area and hidden from the street itself.

That didn't mean it wasn't dangerous however. Daichi shut the door to the shop to see if the man would react. He didn't.

His breath rose and fell slowly, and Daichi figured he had to be asleep. Daichi walked down the stairs, and still, he did not react. So Daichi figured he was probably okay, but he still gripped the knife in his pocket, especially tightly as he walked around the sleeping man.

He had very light silver hair, but Daichi couldn't see anything of the rest of him besides his clothing. Daichi figured he must be quite old. Daichi hurried along home, not casting another glance back.

The next day when he got to work, there was nobody in the alley. Noya was on again today, so they were able to get the place ready to open quicker than Daichi had the day before.

“Your boy toy was sad you weren't here yesterday,” Daichi teased.

“He's not my boy toy and I bet he didn't notice.”

“He was looking for you,” Daichi replied, rolling his eyes.

“Asahi doesn't care about me. He only likes me for my cappuccinos. He was sad he had to drink your shitty cappuccino,” Noya moped, leaning against the counter and texting, his fingers slamming hard against the screen of his phone. Once he finished, he slammed the phone on the counter, crossed his arms, and looked out the window.

Asahi. Daichi tried to remember the name.

As usual, Noya's regular came in at 7:25, and with a feeling of dejection Daichi looked at the man and realized he'd forgotten his name again.

“Hey Asahi, how are you?” Noya greeted him.

“I'm good. Did you have a nice day off?” His regular asked.

“Well, I have another job that I was working at in the evening, but in the morning I was doing the laundry and stuff. But it was okay.”

“Oh, where else do you work?” He asked Noya. Noya had already started making his order. Noya was embarrassed for it, but he'd already memorized the man's exact order.

“I work at a burger shop at the university!” Noya replied as he took the weight and crushed the cappuccino grounds.

The man tried to say something as Noya started to froth the milk. Noya shouted back, “What was that?”

He waited till Noya was done frothing, and said, “I asked if you're a cashier there.”

“Nah,” Noya replied. “I'm a shitty cook. I keep getting grease burns,” he said, and tugged on the sleeve of his shirt to reveal the bandages, which he looked strangely proud of.

“Ouch!” the man replied. “That must hurt.” He tried to hand Noya a five hundred yen coin.

“Nope!” Noya said, pushing his hand away. “It's on the house.”

“Okay, then,” the man said, and then dropped the coin in the otherwise woefully empty tip jar. Noya had given him a to go cup, and the man walked out of the shop. As soon as the door had jingled shut, Noya grabbed the jar and showed it off to Daichi.

“Score,” he said.

Daichi snorted as he scrolled through Facebook on his phone. “And you think he doesn't like you.”

“Why would he?” Noya replied, suddenly moody again.

Daichi only accepted the morning shifts because all his classes were in the late afternoon or early evening. Otherwise, they were the worst. People were in bad moods from not getting their caffeine yet, and there was a lot of them.

Noya and Daichi fought through another morning shift, and rejoiced when Tanaka and Ennoshita came to relieve them at 2 o'clock.

“There's a guy outside in the alley, by the way,” Tanaka let Daichi know as Daichi put on his coat. “He didn't bug me or anything.”

“Did he have short white hair?” Daichi asked.

“Sure, but a lot of hobos have white hair,” Tanaka replied.

“Not a lot of them have short hair,” Daichi replied. He knew the answer was stupid, so he relented and said, “There was a guy there yesterday.”

“Huh, I hope he doesn't stick around,” Tanaka replied. “I always feel bad walking around them.”

“Hmm,” Daichi replied, eyeing the box of day old's that nobody could ever really make a dent in. “I'm gonna be a do gooder,” he said suddenly.

“No, Daichi, he'll never leave!” Tanaka whined.

“Oh well,” Daichi said. He grabbed a paper bag and put a few day old muffins and cookies into it, and rolled up the top. “See you later, Tanaka,” he said.

“You idiot,” Tanaka replied.

Daichi walked out the back door, and there the man was, the same person as yesterday, as far as he could tell. He still dozed softly. He slowly walked down the stairs and towards the man, setting down the bag.

As soon as the bag touched the ground, the man's eyes cracked open, and Daichi jumped in surprise. His eyes were a dark red.

No, they couldn't be red. They were probably just a very warm brown. It was a trick of the light, and Daichi was stupid.

“It's some day olds,” Daichi said. “From the shop.”

The man touched the bag and opened it, peering in. Then, he looked up at Daichi, with those strange eyes, and said, “Thanks.”

His voice was feather light and soft, but undeniably masculine, and it made Daichi's stomach turn. “No problem,” Daichi breathed out, and then began to walk home.

For some reason he couldn't get his heart to stop racing.

_ [please reblog the artwork on [tumblr](http://sad--luck.tumblr.com/post/139366247986/ficcomic-daisuga-collab-with-kenmakzoume-we).] _

_ iv _

Koushi knocked on Hinata's front door again, the bag of pastries in his hand. After a moment, Hinata answered the door, looking tired. “Oh,” he said. “You came back. Come in.”

Koushi stepped over the threshold and took off his shoes, and said, “Thank you.”

“I honestly thought you wouldn't come back,” Hinata said. “I felt really stupid.”

“It's okay,” Koushi replied. “I just... I got very angry. You know how I feel about blood bags.”

“Would you feel better if I said it was an accident?” Hinata asked.

“How could you possibly get a blood bag by accident?” Koushi asked, furrowing his brow. “Actually, wait, hold that thought. Tell me about it later. I have a peace offering for Kageyama.”

“Oh. Huh,” Hinata replied. Then he yelled up the stairs, “Tobio! Come down here!”

Kageyama appeared at the top of the stairs, asking, “What do you need? You  _ just  _ fed.” Then he saw Koushi. “What's he doing here?” he demanded.

“I have something for you,” Koushi said as Kageyama came all the way down the stairs. He handed the human the pastries. “Consider it a peace offering.”

Kageyama peered in the bag at the pastries. “How'd you think of this?” he asked. “Hinata forgets that I have to eat, like, all the time.”

Hinata peered at his feet, looking guilty. Koushi rolled his eyes at his former fledgling. “Well, I didn't exactly get these with you in mind.”

“Then who would you buy food for?” Hinata asked.

“I didn't buy it either,” Koushi said.

“Then where'd you get it?”

“I've been sleeping in an alleyway the past two afternoons, but it’s near the back of some cafe,” Koushi said. “I guess the employees think I'm a hobo, but one of them gave me this today,” he said. “Yours now.”

“Well,” Kageyama said. “They do look good. So thanks.”

“Truce?” Koushi asked.

“Truce.”

“I didn't mean to offend you,” Koushi said. “I was shocked. And don't be jealous, either. I've never been with Hinata. That'd be like fucking my own kid.”

“I guess I was just being presumptuous,” Kageyama said.

“I'm sorry.” Koushi replied. He stuck out a hand.

“I am too,” Kageyama said, and grasped Koushi’s hand, shaking them stiffly.

“Good, we're all made up,” Hinata said. “Okay, Suga, we need to talk.”

“So let's talk,” Koushi replied. Kageyama went back up the stairs. “How long have you had him?” he asked.

“It's been two months since we started,” Hinata replied with a sigh.

“So what did you mean by accident?” They walked into a tiny bedroom that had to be Hinata’s. There was a small dresser and a double bed with mussed up sheets.

“He wasn't supposed to live,” Hinata replied. “I had a normal night hunting, found him, and took him back here, and drank. He seemed long gone by the time I was full, and I was tired so I went to sleep, but when I woke up in the morning he was awake too. I have no clue how he lived.” He hopped onto the bed and crossed his legs.

Koushi sat down beside him on the bed. “So you developed a fixation then,” he replied.

“Yeah. It was pretty instantly full blown. He got such a massive dose of venom when I first fed from him to, so he couldn't really run,” Hinata said.

“So he stayed.”

“I told him I could relieve the pain for a few months,” Hinata replied. “And I told him he had to choose.” Hinata pursed his lips and seemed pensive. 

“Which way he wanted to die,” Koushi clarified.

“Yeah... I don't think he's gonna survive the whole six months,” Hinata said. “Maybe two more, three is pushing it.

“I see. Has he given you his answer yet?” Koushi replied.

“No,” Hinata said. “He refuses every single time I ask. But his degradation is settling in quick. His personality is way different now, and he was way more muscular when I got him.”

“You care about him a lot, don't you?” Koushi asked. He reached out and placed his hand on Hinata’s shoulder, squeezing tightly.

Hinata didn’t acknowledge the touch, but he didn’t shake it off, either. “Yeah,” Hinata said. “I get why you told me to never get a blood bag. This sucks,” he went on. He curled his hand into a tight fist, and glared at the floor. “You kill one person in six months, instead of twelve randoms,” he said, “But you have to fall in love with them.”

“Did I ever tell you how I got changed?” Koushi asked. He dropped his hand back onto his lap.

“I can't remember,” Hinata replied.

“I was my creator's blood bag,” Koushi said. “He didn't give me the choice, he was planning to kill me even though he loved me. But I bit him when he was asleep to save my life. As soon as I grew out of being a fledgling I ran away from him. I served him no more good, so...”

“You've only seen him a few times since. I remember, your maker hunted us down in China once,” Hinata said.

“Yeah.” Koushi hated the memory. His maker had tried to lured Hinata away from him when he’d discovered Koushi keeping the fledgling. Koushi had been so afraid of being alone then.

“He seemed cruel,” Hinata said.

“He’s existed far longer than anyone should,” Koushi said. “Maybe we'll be like him one day.”

Hinata wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I hope not.”

“Look, Hinata, I'd like a place to hang around,” Koushi said. “Not during the day. I'll sleep somewhere else. But I'd like to hunker down somewhere safe for awhile.” He looked directly at Hinata, trying to muster up some kind of firmness.

“When do you plan to leave the town?” Hinata finally asked.

“I don't know,” Koushi replied, “But I came because I wanted to see you. I missed you,” he said, scooting slightly closer to Hinata. He had. Koushi didn’t mind being alone usually, but sometimes he needed someone who he cared about in his existence.

“I missed you too,” Hinata replied, and bit his lip. “I guess you can hang around during the evenings and at night, but I seriously can't let you stay during the day.”

“I won't insist, but I'd like to know why, exactly.”

“I think having you around would make Kageyama uncomfortable,” Hinata said. He looked distinctly uncomfortable, fidgeting and twiddling his thumbs in his lap.

“He fears the vampire that might kill him quickly,” Koushi said, “but not the one that's already slowly killing him.” He laughed.

“Shut up,” Hinata replied. “I'll work on it. He has no reason to fear you.”

“Thanks, Hinata,” Koushi told him.

_ v _

The hobo behind the cafe had become a fixture. Tanaka blamed Daichi. Whatever. The guy wanted a quiet place to sleep, and he hadn't harassed any of them, it seemed, so who cared?

Daichi was alone again on the Tuesday morning shift. The hobo was never there when he arrived, and he was apparently always gone by the end of the afternoon shift. He probably arrived somewhere in the middle of Daichi's shift, took his nap, and left.

Noya's regular didn't come in this Tuesday. This was even more proof that the guy was interested him, and Noya was totally wrong.

The shift passed irritably, but overall, uneventfully. Ennoshita came in at 2 o'clock sharp, and told Daichi, “He's there again. Thanks a lot.”

“I doubt it’s the food,” Daichi said. “It's a quiet place to take a nap.”

“Uh huh,” Ennoshita said. He pulled the loop of his apron over his head and tied the back. “Whatever. See you later.”

Ennoshita went to stand by the register and Daichi went into the back. As usual he pulled his coat on, then loaded up a paper bag with day olds. He stepped outside, and there slept the hobo.

He woke up again when Daichi set down the bag.

His eyes cracked open, and there it was again: those weird crimson eyes. Daichi wasn't sure what could make his eyes look like that. “Why do you keep giving me food?” he asked, his voice lilting and musical.

“You look hungry,” Daichi replied, and it was true. The hobo was skinny and had a rather chalky pallor. As he looked up at Daichi, Daichi could see dark purple circles under his eyes. Daichi slid down and sat on the cement, across from the hobo.

“I guess I am,” the hobo said. He picked up the bag, unrolled the top, and sniffed its contents. Then he rolled the top back up and sat it down.

“How come you never eat when I'm here?” Daichi asked. He tilted his head at a slight angle.

“I have a friend who's sick,” the hobo said, “I've been sharing it with them.” He cluthed the bag slightly tighter, his expression dark.

“Oh,” Daichi said. “That's very generous of you.”

“It's what you do for your friends,” the hobo replied.

“Hey,” Daichi asked, “What's your name?” He unfolded his legs and moved to sit in a different position.

“You can call me Suga,” the other said. “And who are you?” He shifted to look up directly at Daichi, instead of ducking his head low.

“My name's Sawamura,” Daichi told Suga, “but everyone just calls me Daichi.”

“Well, thank you very much for your generosity, Daichi,” Suga replied. Was that a hint of a smile?

“Well,” Daichi said, “I have to go get ready for class. See you later.”

“See you,” Suga replied. Daichi got up and walked away.

Koushi watched his form retreat away. Koushi picked up the paper bag and clutched it to his chest, taking a deep, steady breath of air.

That human was truly delectable. He had a warm tone to his skin, and a smart look about him. He was broad shouldered too, and muscular.

But Koushi knew better than to eat where he slept. That didn't mean he wouldn't happily think about it, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be published on February 21st. 
> 
> Much love to Maggie, the artist. Please check out her tumblr (sad--luck), her instagram (sad.luck), or her facebook (Sad Luck illustrations).
> 
> This chapter was beta'd by tsukki-oh-tsukki on tumblr.


	2. Back Alley Fixation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daichi begins to befriend Koushi. Koushi resists his thirst.

_vi_

Daichi got used to scooping up some day olds into a paper bag and giving them to Koushi at the end of his shift. Koushi was there every time, unfailing.

One day, Daichi asked, “Where do you go the rest of the time?”

Koushi said, “My friend has a house here.” He stuffed the food into his bag.

“So why don't you stay there? Why are you sleeping in this alley?”

“My friend's boyfriend doesn't trust me,” Koushi replied. “He doesn't want me around when my friend's not home.”

“Why doesn't he trust you?” Daichi asked.

“I don't know,” Koushi said, and then he grinned devilishly at Daichi. “I guess I just look threatening.”

Daichi had discovered quickly that it was very hard to get a straight answer out of Koushi. He kept bringing the food though, and he kept probing Koushi.

Koushi was strange. There was something about him that seemed ageless. Daichi had originally thought he was an older man, due to his light, colorless hair, but Koushi had revealed that his skin was smooth and unmarked by blemishes, except a few small moles. Koushi moved like a young man as well, but he did not always seem youthful, either. He tended to speak formally, and often had a far away look in his eyes.

The other workers teased him for his fascination with the alley dweller, but in the end, Koushi never bothered anyone. The other workers stepped over him on their way in and out, and he didn't pay anyone but Daichi a glance.

_vii_

This was how fixations began.

Koushi could feel it in his body. This stupid human was just so attractive to him. Four days a week, this boy, this _child_ , would give him food and sit down across from him, and he would tell Koushi all about his day.

A fresh bag of pastries was deposited in Koushi's lap, and the human sat down across from Koushi in the alley way.

“I hope you aren’t annoyed by me interrupting your nap,” Daichi said. His voice was deep and comforting, and Koushi was screwed.

“No, not at all,” Koushi replied. “Your company and food is much appreciated,” he went on, and gripped the paper bag roughly. The scent of sugar and strawberry jam wafted out, making Koushi's stomach turn.

“I'm glad I could be useful,” Daichi said with a laugh.

It was cold outside. Koushi watched as blood spilled into the capillaries in Daichi's cheeks, inflating them and making his cheeks stain red, thrumming with blood under a thin, thin layer of skin. It was a pitiful defense against the chill.

Daichi asked, “What do you do at night?”

“I spend time with my friend. I go out sometimes, just wander around. Walking at night is very peaceful.”

“It's not very safe to wander around after dark,” Daichi mused.

“If you never walk on the knife's edge,” Koushi replied, “You'll never see what's inside yourself.”

“So you think it's good to take risks.”

“And to get cut open, once or twice. Scars are stronger than skin.”

“That's not true,” Daichi challenged. “Scar tissue is less elastic than regular skin. It's easier to open skin that's been scarred.”

“I'll take your word for it,” Koushi replied, “After all, I'm no doctor. All I have is a fascination with knives,” he bluffed. Even though Koushi enjoyed the human's company, a part of him wanted to drive the human away, so he would suffer of his temptation no more.

Koushi yearned to taste Daichi's blood. He wanted to reach into the human and feel his heart beat feebly in his hand, once before it ceased forever. To feel the wet slide of the human's blood on his hands, and down his throat into his belly.

Koushi took a deep breath and looked at Daichi, who still hadn't replied. “What?” he asked. “Did I scare you?”

“Of course you didn't,” Daichi said wryly, but Koushi could tell from his body language that he was vaguely disturbed.

“I'll try not to disclose so much in the future,” Koushi replied, shifting to rest his elbow on his knee, and look the human in the eyes. He didn't blink. He pressed on. How much harder would he have to push Daichi, to tip the scales and make the human think there was something _off?_

He still did not stiffen up, he did not get scared.

Koushi knew he could deal with this problem by going away and cutting off his growing addiction at the source. He could sleep somewhere else, but he liked this spot, and he also perversely enjoyed testing his company. What was Daichi's breaking point? It was an experiment in mortal fortitude.

“What are those?” Koushi suddenly asked, and he leaned forward and tugged on one of the little metal balls that protruded from below Daichi's lower lip. The metal was cool to the touch, and seemed to penetrate his skin. Surely something like that could not be comfortable in this weather.

“Ow, what the hell?” Daichi snarled, batting away Koushi's hand and defensively curling his own hand over his lower lip and chin once Koushi's was gone. “Don't touch people's piercings without asking first, who raised you? Ugh, that hurt.”

Koushi only wrinkled his brow, and asked, “So, what is the point of that? What it is it?”

“It's just a piercing,” Daichi replied. “Have you never seen one before?” He scooted a little further away from Koushi.

“I don't understand why,” Koushi said, dodging the question. He crossed his arms defensively.

“Not gonna lie, Suga,” Daichi said, “You're being really weird right now.” He finally lowered his hands. The skin around his lip looked red and irritated.

“I apologize.” Koushi let his own arms fall down. He still couldn’t understand the logic of punching a metal bar through one’s own skin.

“Well,” Daichi sighed, “I gotta bounce.” Koushi figured he meant leave, seeing as the human got up and started to walk away. “See you later!” he called.

Koushi didn't reply. He drooped his head forward and fell back into a light sleep.

When he woke again, the sun had waned enough that to walk was no longer an arduous task. He got up and brushed himself off, then loaded Kageyama's treats of the day into his messenger bag, and walked away.

He stuck his hands in his pocket and leaned forward so his bangs covered his eyes as he walked through the more open streets in town. He had discovered by looking as intentionally unfriendly, but harmless, as possible, that people would tend to ignore him, leaving him to quickly complete his walk in peace.

He walked across town and into one of the small neighborhoods until he arrived at Hinata's place. He knocked lazily at the door, and Kageyama answered. “Please, come in,” the human said, his own head tilted forward and glaring at Koushi from under his hair.

“Look at you, looking like a vampire already,” Koushi teased.

“Just get in the house,” the human replied, narrowing his eyes.

“Just let me through,” Koushi replied, stepping over the threshold and squeezing past the distinctly uninviting human. He dug through his messenger bag, and retrieved the paper bag of slightly crushed pastries, and offered it to Kageyama. “Your toll,” he said.

“Thanks,” the human replied, and then dug out the pastry that had strawberry jam in it, and took a big bite of it, the thick jam spilling out at the sides where he had been bitten. The sickening scent of it tickled Koushi's nose.

“I have no idea how you humans eat something so revolting,” Koushi said. He wrinkled his nose and looked away.

“Well, I have no idea why you vampires seem to like sinking your teeth through someone's fatty skin and drinking their gross germ infested blood, but you and Hinata seem to do it more than enough,” Kageyama replied, chewing as he spoke.

“How do you know how often I feed?”

“It's just every night that you're not here.” Kageyama leaned forward, and wiggled his eyebrows. “Am I appetizing to you?” he asked. “Are you hungry, Suga? Tonight's the night, isn't it?”

“No, you're not appetizing to me at all.” Koushi kept his tone sharp, hoping to discourage the human.

“Now I'm offended,” Kageyama complained.

“You're covered in my fledgling's scent. Drenched in it. It wafts off your body in clouds, probably. I'd be an idiot to lay my teeth in something so thoroughly enslaved as _you_.”

_(artwork by[sad--luck](https://www.instagram.com/sad.luck/). please reblog the artwork on [tumblr](http://sad--luck.tumblr.com/post/139741009134/comic-for-chapter-two-of-the-nature-of-the-game-3).)_

“God, Suga, what crawled up your ass?” Hinata asked, suddenly appearing at the top of the staircase.

“I think nothing, and that's his problem,” Kageyama said.

Hinata started to laugh, and Koushi rolled his eyes, and then said, “Shouyou.” The younger vampire stiffened at his first name falling from Koushi's lips.

“Yes?” he said, his expression carefully wiped clean of emotion.

“I need to talk to you. Without Mr. Hilarious offering his services,” Koushi said. He frowned at the human.

“Okay, come upstairs,” Hinata said. “Tobio, leave us alone.” The human shrugged his shoulders. Koushi kicked his shoes off, and walked up the stairs. “So why were you harassing my blood bag?” Hinata asked, glancing back at the elder vampire.

“Easy target,” Koushi replied neutrally, looking at the plain beige paint and undecorated walls.

“Okay, yes,” Hinata sighed, an exasperated look crossing his face.

He led Koushi down the short hallway and into his bedroom. The curtains he had were thick and dark to keep the sunlight out during the day, and his bed was messy, as he had only just awoken. He straightened it out, trying to do it quickly. Then he hopped on and patted the other side for Koushi, and said, “What's up?”

“Have you ever formed a fixation before Kageyama?” Koushi asked.

“No,” Hinata answered flatly.

“Oh,” Koushi replied, his shoulders slumping.

“What's the problem, Suga?” Hinata asked. “I can try to help if you tell me the specifics.”

“There's an employee at the coffee shop, the one who gives me the food, who always sits down and chats with me. I think I'm forming a fixation towards him, and now I'm in too deep and I don't _want_ to leave that area to avoid trouble.”

“Huh,” Hinata said. “Are you having trouble drinking other blood? 'Cuz right now any blood that isn't Tobio's tastes super nasty to me.”

“I don't think so,” Koushi replied, “But I haven't actually tasted his blood yet.”

“Then don't,” Hinata said firmly.

“Ugh...”

“Sorry, I can't be of much help. You’re the older vampire here,” Hinata pointed out.

“But I've _never_ had a blood bag, or a fixation!” Koushi whined, splaying his fingers over his face.

“Well, the only blood bag I’ve ever had was an accident.” Hinata said. “A really bad accident…”

“I wonder what vampires like my maker would say about us,” Koushi said.

“I think they'd call us wasteful,” Hinata replied.

“The relationship...” Koushi said, “it just sickens me. I look at your blood bag and I can't help but feel bad.” He snorted. “Me, pitying a human like that.”

“I feel bad too,” Hinata muttered, wringing his hands. “It's scary. Being fixated on a person.”

_viii_

Daichi was driving Koushi crazy. The human seemed to be in a hurry today, merely depositing the bag of sweets by Koushi's feet then running off. Hunger curled in Koushi's stomach, and thirst burned his throat. Squeezing his eyes shut, he willed himself calm, and fell back asleep.

Koushi slept until night fell. He checked the bag of confections, and discovered it was untouched, and began the trek to Hinata's house. He had to feed again tonight. He recognized the sluggishness in his own movement and his increased perception of the humans who flitted by him along the sidewalks. He was too thirsty again.

It had only been three nights since he'd last fed. Koushi usually went two weeks before he drank again.

This had been going on for a week. Hinata theorized that Koushi's half baked fixation was causing him to reject most of the blood he ingested from his targets, seeing as his own fixation with Kageyama made him reject any other human's blood.

It made sense.

When he arrived at Hinata's home, he just dropped the pastries on the stoop and rang the doorbell. He didn't have time to chat, he needed to feed _now._

He walked back into the main part of town, targeting the only bar that was open this early in the evening. He knew he looked like a disheveled wreck. Koushi was worried about bouncers and bartenders starting to recognize him, and then recognizing that the people he went home with were the same people who then went missing. If he wasn't careful, then he'd have to leave again.

Koushi wanted to spend time with his former fledgling. Instead, some human who was too nice for his own good had reduced him to some kind of nearly newborn fiend, feeding at least twice a week.

A young girl stood alone just away from the bar. Koushi himself lurked, seeing if anyone was with her. A few men approached her, but she waved them all away, seeming anxious, but also as if she was trying to act older than she really was.

She pulled her strapless dress up higher on her breasts, and licked her lips. Koushi loved finding this type, they were so easy.

Once, long ago Koushi had kidnapped the young men and women who dared to wander the night. Now the mortals had conquered the dark, so he had to instead stalk the ones who chose to veil their own sight with liquor.

He sauntered over to her, and asked, “Could I buy you a drink?”

She looked as if she wholly regretted her decision to come out tonight. She hunched her shoulders forward, and said, “No, thank you...”

“No,” Koushi replied, “I insist.”

He walked back to the bar and ordered a can of beer, handed dutifully to him by the bartender. He paid, and then brought it back to the girl. He showed her the sealed top, and said, “Come on, it's safe. Have a drink. Calm down.”

Nervously, the girl reached forward and took the can, popping the top and taking a hesitant sip. Up close, Koushi could see a bright red blush blooming underneath her thick foundation. “So what are you doing here all alone?” he asked.

“I-I'm drunk,” the girl admitted. “I wanted to go out, but my friend changed her mind last minute and I left without her...”

“Don't worry,” Koushi said. “You're safe with me.”

He coaxed her into conversation, and kept the beer coming. Slowly, the girl relaxed and grew comfortable, and once she was he asked her, “Want to get out of here?”

“Mmm... yes...” The girl said. He took her hand and led her out across the smoky room, noticing the thin layer of sweat that had built up over her skin.

“Come on,” he told her. “I know a shortcut.”

He led her down an alleyway, then made a turn onto a deserted side street, and she finally asked, “Say, were you drinking?”

Koushi hushed her, and pulled her aside and next to a dumpster, hiding from eyesight. He pushed her against the wall, and kissed her on the lips. The girl began to struggle, trying to push him away. Koushi could smell blood in the air. She must have scraped her back on the brick wall.

He pulled away from her lips, and the girl breathed out, “What... the fuck is wrong with you...” She moved her leg to try to kick him in the groin, but Koushi moved to press his thigh against her leg, caging her in and preventing her from moving.

“Just close your eyes,” he whispered, and then he leant down and bit her neck, hastily casting his glamour so she wouldn't scream.

Her blood tasted sour, and thin, marred by the high alcohol content. She melted in his arms and tried to mold her body against his, moaning as his glamour took over and veiled her senses, preventing her from realizing the reality of her own predicament.

Koushi only drank, trying not to gag at the vile taste as her warm blood pooled in his belly. Her pulse began to slow, and she weakened, her body slumping against the wall so Koushi had to actively hold onto her. Soon she was dead and there was nothing left to take.

He pulled his mouth off her neck and dropped her, and she crumpled on the hard ground like a doll. He slapped his hands against the brick wall and breathed heavily, his hands supporting him more than his feet. A line of red stained drool dripped from his gaping mouth onto her shoulder.

His stomach turned, and in a fit of revulsion he retched. He fell to the ground beside the girl and vomited, feeling a sharp sting in his stomach as the foaming, partially digested blood forced its way back up his esophagus and stained his chin, pooling on the ground.

When it finally ended he ripped a portion of her dress and wiped his chin off, and then threw the fabric aside, still breathing heavily, trying to think of anything but the revolting taste in his mouth.

He had killed this girl, and he had nothing to show for it. She was dead and he was not even satiated, as hungry as he was when he'd hunted her in the first place. He was exhausted from vomiting.

He realized that this was the first time he murdered for nothing. He was overcome by a fit of tears. He cried for this girl and her stolen life. He cried over his own wretchedness. He cursed himself for how stupid he was to let anything begin with Daichi. He should've left that place as soon as that human had paid him any attention.

He wiped away the last of the tears and pulled his aching body to his feet. He needed to feed. _Now._ He wandered out of the alley and tried to find a person, any soul. There was no one on the street. But there were people in their homes.

He dragged himself across the street, and knocked on the door of a first level apartment. An older woman answered the door, and asked, “Do you know what time it is?”

“Please,” Koushi asked, not even needing to try to sound pitiful. “Can I use your phone?”

“I suppose—what happened to you?” She asked. “There's blood all over you.”

“Please,” Koushi said, “Please let me in.”

“I suppose so, come in,” she said.

Koushi crossed the threshold, slammed the door behind him and sank his teeth into her neck and covered her mouth with his hand to muffle her screams, not even bothering to cast his glamour. He drank greedily, the frenzy taking over his senses until the woman crumpled in his arms and her pulse slowed to almost zero. He tore his teeth through her skin to make sure she would definitely bleed out. The whole process took maybe two minutes. He dropped the woman and she fell to the floor. Koushi wiped his mouth on his sleeve, and then registered the sound of footsteps in the ceiling above him.

“Honey? Are you alright?” A voice called.

Koushi threw the door open and he ran.

_ix_

“Hey Daichi, get a load of this.” Noya slapped a newspaper on the counter. They had ten minutes before they opened up, but the shop was ready to go.

Daichi yawned and took a sip of coffee, and looked at the newspaper's headline.

_2 DEAD LAST NIGHT—WHY?_

_The latest in a string of murders, two women were found dead last night within a proximity of fifty feet from each other. The first woman, an unidentified young woman was found in an alleyway behind a dumpster in a pool of blood. The second woman, Kikugawa Aya, died after answering the door to a stranger. Her husband heard several bumps and crashes, and when he came downstairs he found her dead and the front door wide open. Kikugawa had gruesome wounds on her neck and extensive bruising._

_The police have been unable to identify a motive in the recent killings. Victims have ranged in age from 21 to 68, and include both men and women. Most victims were believed to be intoxicated at the time of death. All of them suffered a large wound to the neck, and extensive bruising and broken bones throughout the rest of the body._

_Current theories consider a serial killer, or gang activity._

“Huh,” Daichi said. “Well, shit. I didn't even know there was a problem.”

“Apparently it started like three weeks ago,” Noya replied. “There was a murder a month and a half ago, but it’s been picking up like crazy over the last three weeks. Two three weeks ago, three two weeks ago, and now five this week.”

“That's creepy,” Daichi replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah! Like stuff like this is supposed to happen in like, I dunno, Tokyo. Not here!” Noya replied.

Daichi checked his watch, and realized it was time to open up. He unlocked the doors as Noya leered about not going out alone at night.

Another day, another shift. Daichi brewed coffee, ran the cash register, and watched Noya and his crush flirt all over the counter. It got old.

At the end of his shift, as usual, Daichi threw a few day olds into the paper bag and went outside to give them to Suga. However, Suga just wasn't there. His normally occupied spot was woefully empty, for the first time in forever.

Worry gripped Daichi's stomach. What if something bad had happened to Suga? What if he was another murder victim who had gone undiscovered, and had no one who cared enough to call him in as missing?

Daichi needed to calm down. Suga had said he had friends, he just couldn’t stay with them. He dropped the food into a public waste bin as he stepped onto the main street, feeling bad for the waste. But he couldn't help but to worry about Suga. What if something had happened to the strange man? Daichi had been giving him food for weeks now, surely he wouldn't leave without a trace.

He tried to quell his fears. Surely Suga was fine. It'd only been one day he was missing.

_x_

“You threw up fresh blood, huh?” Hinata asked.

“Yeah,” Koushi said. “There wasn't anything wrong with it, besides the fact that she was drunk, which I'm used to. I just started retching as soon as I was finished.”

“That's strange,” Hinata said, rubbing his forehead. “I can't figure out why that would happen! It's not like you're a fledgling or something. There's no reason for you to throw up fresh blood.”

“That's why I'm freaked out,” Koushi told him.

“Look,” Hinata said, “I think you need a day to chill out, because this is getting kind of messed up and scary. I want you to stay here tomorrow. I don't want you anywhere near that human. You should get cut off for a day, and see what happens.”

“I wish I knew what to do,” Koushi said miserably, flopping back on one of Hinata's arm chairs. “This is totally new for me. I've never had a fixation. I’ve never even thrown up since I became a vampire before.”

“Lucky,” Hinata said.

“When did you ever have to throw up?” Koushi asked, raising an eyebrow at the younger.

“It was a little after you turned me loose,” Hinata said. “I was migrating, but I got caught in a thick forest.”

“I told you, stick to the roads,” Koushi said.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, _mom_ , this happened hundreds of years ago, whatever, but I got lost.”

“Uh huh.”

“I couldn't get out, and I didn't have a very high tolerance then, since I was still so young, so I was super hungry. So I tried to feed from a deer.”

“Oh no,” Koushi said, feeling sympathetic for his former fledgling.

“So yeah, I threw that up all over myself. It was super gross!”

“Maybe I should've waited longer before I set you loose,” Koushi said.

“No way!” Hinata retorted, “I was going stir crazy before you did. It was time for you to let me go. I'd already been a full vampire, for like, three years when you left me. I was just dumb.”

“Hmm,” Koushi said. “Did it ever happen again?”

“No. Because I followed the roads every time since.”

Koushi laughed.

Koushi didn't feed that night. Instead, he stayed up with Hinata, and fell asleep on the couch. Apparently out of earshot, Kageyama threw a fit about it. Koushi didn't know how to get Kageyama to get over it.

` He didn't feel thirsty the next night, so he didn't feed. He did leave though, and scoped out potential spots to hunt in the next town over.

As the sun began to rise though, he went “home”, and down the alley behind the coffee shop, sitting down to rest in that pleasant spot. He let his eyes fall shut, and fell asleep.

He always awoke when people walked past. He never stirred for the ones that weren't Daichi, however. He didn't want anymore humans trying to befriend him, the first one had already messed up his life too much.

He could tell Daichi was there the moment the human opened the back door of the shop. He came bearing food, as usual, which he handed straight to Koushi. “Where were you yesterday?” he asked.

“I had some... business to take care of,” Koushi finally said. “Personal issues.”

Literally.

“I see,” Daichi replied. “I guess I just got nervous,” he went on, “Since there's some really gross stuff in the news.”

“What do you mean?” Koushi asked.

“Well like, a bunch of people got killed,” Daichi said, “And I was worried about you. Since you don't really have anywhere to go.” The human looked pensive for a moment, and then said, “You could stay with me, you know.”

Oh, hell no. Koushi definitely _could not_ do that.

“Don't worry about me,” Koushi instead said, trying to comfort the human. “I take care of myself. I'll be just fine,” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be published on February 28th.
> 
> Thank you so much for the awesome response to last chapter!! I'm so glad people are interested in my baby! :)
> 
> Remember to check out the preview for chapter three, _His Creator_ , on Wednesday on my writing tumblr goldshardwrites.


	3. His Creator

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koushi finds out his maker has moved into the area as well. He needs to keep Daichi and Hinata away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was edited on March 3rd, 2016 to add artwork by sad--luck.

_xi_

Koushi hated clubs, but sometimes, they were the best option. The darkness and the crowds of people created a certain anonymity that made it easy to sneak someone away, and not let anyone really see his face.

The next town over from Hinata, he'd grudgingly went in for a night hunting in the town's single small nightclub. Smoke was heavy in the air, and it was difficult to see. Music thumped from all the speakers, the bass shaking the air and Koushi's skin. His thirst irritated him; the burning in his throat made him cranky and his more impulsive.

He jostled his way into the mob of people dancing, trying to find someone who looked alone. It was so hard to see here. Finally, he just gave up and grabbed a girl's hips at random, hoping to get lucky.

Her body was bony and immediately she froze under his touch, no longer dancing. Another girl grabbed her arm and jerked the first girl away, a scowl sketched onto her face. She turned to glare at Koushi, and with her free hand she flipped him off as she brought the girl closer to the rest of their group.

Koushi didn’t react, and instead he slipped back into the crowd to find someone else.

The next girl he chose he got luckier with. He grabbed her hips, and she let him get close and pull her body against his, grinding to the beat of an indistinct song. She ground her ass against his hips, her movements a little sloppy and offbeat. Koushi managed to pull her away from the main throng, and he kissed her.

The girl immediately opened her mouth, and coaxed Koushi to open his too, sloppily making out. He pressed against the small of her back, holding her close as they finally stumbled to lean against a wall as they made out.

The smell of alcohol was heavy in her breath. He pulled away from her lips to press his lips against his neck.

That was when he felt a hand grab the back of his shirt and tug. He straightened up and turned to see who had grabbed him, and found him face to face with a girl who seemed _furious_. She pulled back her hand and slapped him soundly across the face, and she shouted, “What the fuck is wrong with you? Look how drunk she is! You creep!” The loud music made her voice hardly discernible.

“Hey, hey,” Koushi said, putting his hands up. “Hey. I'll go.”

“Asshole,” the girl snarled, pushing Koushi aside to talk to her friend.

Koushi fled that scene too. He tried to start moving across the crowd, back towards the bar. Maybe this wasn't working tonight. He could always pick someone up off the streets. He gazed at the different people in the club as he weaved through the crowd. His eyes shifted from person to person, but then he suddenly caught the gaze of a man a few meters away. Koushi froze.

That was a vampire.

Somebody bumped into him, and spilled their beer on him. He didn't even process it until the man began to move closer, and then Koushi realized: he knew those eyes, he knew that face.

That was his maker.

Koushi immediately turned around, searching for the exit. He blew through the crowds and didn't even stop at the coat check. He needed to get away from that vampire.

Koushi needed to think fast. He could go back to Hinata's, and he would be safe there, but then his maker would know where his fledgling was, and that made Koushi far too uncomfortable. Sure, his maker couldn't get in until someone invited him, but Kageyama lived in Hinata's home. Koushi wasn't sure how extensively Kageyama had been poisoned yet, but he knew that the human was fragile. There was no way Kageyama would be able stand the relentless knocking of a vampire on a mission.

Hinata's was out. He didn't want his maker anywhere near the coffee shop, either. Koushi would just need to keep moving until daylight broke, and hope his maker wouldn't try to pursue him any further after that.

Koushi cursed his bond to his maker, cemented by drinking from his maker for three years until he was fully grown. His maker could track him. It was supposed to be so that if Koushi got lost, his maker could find him. But that gift didn’t run both ways. His maker could know where he was, but Koushi’s sense of his maker’s whereabouts was nothing more than a shot in the dark.

He made his way out of the club, and immediately the chill set in as the cold air bit his bare skin. It didn't really matter. The cold wouldn't hurt him, it was just an annoyance, unless it caused his blood to congeal. He had to _move._

He ran. He hated running, and preferred to walk because running overexerted his appetite, and forced him to feed more often. But he really had no other choice right now if he wanted to get away from his maker.

He took zig zags, to try to confuse the tug his maker felt. It seemed almost too much to hope for, but he hoped that make his maker would just lose interest in him if he became too annoying to track.

Koushi kept a general direction towards Hinata, trying to keep tabs on his own tug towards the location of his fledgling. He wanted to end up back in town. He found the site of a train line towards Hinata's town, and decided to follow that until he ended up in town. He needed somewhere he could find reliable coverage for the hours of heavy sunlight.

The exertion caught up with him as he ran alongside the tracks, and finally in the middle of a field Koushi had to drop down to his knees and rest, praying that his maker was far enough away from him not to catch up while he took a break.

Koushi pulled his watch out of his jeans pocket to check the time. He tilted the glass so it would catch the light of the moon, and he read that it was 4:30 in the morning.

The sun was supposed to rise roughly around six today, if he remembered correctly. He had to get to town and find a sheltered place to rest until the sun fell again. He couldn't risk getting sun sickness with the precarious state of his body.

Once he caught his breath, Koushi got back on his feet, and followed the line until buildings began to pop up again. He switched onto a road lit by street lamps, and wove his way deeper into the town.

He found an alleyway that was decently hidden and followed it. It led him behind a few small businesses, the back of grocery store, a hardware store, and a butcher's.

Koushi needed to rest. He'd been thirsty in the first place, but now he was utterly exhausted and parched. His legs collapsed, and he rested against the back wall of the butcher's, and fell asleep.

_xii_

Koushi waited for an hour and a half behind the butcher's to see if his maker would come, once the sun had waned enough to be tolerable. His creator never showed. Koushi knew he needed to speak with Hinata about what had happened, but first he needed a new jacket.

When he'd woken, he'd entirely lost sensation in his right arm. He lifted it, and at first couldn't tell if his blood had congealed inside him from the cold, or if he was suffering from not drinking.

Technically, both were consequences of starvation. If he went too long without drinking, parts of his body would shut down.

His thirst was heightened because he was craving one specific human, not because he was actually using the blood he did ingest faster. Koushi would never wait that long between feeding for this to happen, but how much had he really exerted the night before?

He concluded it had to be congealing. It was a much milder symptom of starvation really. He just didn’t have enough blood in his body to maintain enough heat to keep it liquid in such cold weather. Without his jacket, his body had no defense against the cold. So the blood must’ve congealed inside his arm.

He laid his left hand on his right arm, and worked the skin with his fingers. He noted that the skin that was normally soft had instead found a consistency similar to rubber. With relief, he began to get sensation from the area again. He continued to rub and pressure the skin, until slowly his arm warmed up and he could move it on his own again.

He circled his arm over his head, and decided the first order of business would have to be finding a new coat.

He stood up, and followed the path of the alleys back out to the street. As he looked for a secondhand store he figured it was probably time he got a new outfit, too. His clothes were already dingy from being worn for so long, and they now had too many sloppily removed stains to be presentable. As a vampire who hunted regularly, he couldn't avoid his clothes getting bloodstained. The new beer stain down his back also had something to do with the choice.

A few blocks up he found a secondhand clothes store that was not closed for the evening yet. He quickly pulled his wallet up out of his pants, and found he had about fourteen thousand yen on him. That would be more than enough.

He went inside and ignored the store clerk.

First he looked through the coat rack until he found a worn out windbreaker that had decent insulation. He checked the tag, and found that it was a size larger than him, which was perfect. After that he moved to the men's clothing racks, looking for cheap and comfortable items. He finally picked a pair of medium gray sweatpants, and a plain navy blue t-shirt.

He took his items to the cash desk and paid for them. The cashier bagged the shirt and the sweatpants, and he put the jacket on as soon as he'd paid. The clerk could give him a weird look, but he didn't really care.

He left the store and quickly walked towards Hinata's home, noticed that his creator was nowhere to be found. Surely if he wanted to find Koushi right now, he would've? Koushi hoped he would be able to be safe for a night so he could see Hinata.

Koushi noted Hinata's tug and changed direction a little bit, cutting another block west, trying to keep his senses keen for the presence of another vampire, but he was getting nothing. He felt utterly alone as he walked.

He got to Hinata's home, and knocked hard and relentlessly on the door.

Kageyama answered. Of course. “What's your problem?” The dark haired human asked.

“A serious one,” Koushi replied. “Let me in.”

“Alright, whatever,” Kageyama said. “Come in.” He rolled his eyes at the vampire as he opened the door wider to let Suga passed.

“Suga, what's up?” Hinata called from the stairs, hurrying down as Koushi kicked off his shoes.

“He's here,” Koushi replied. “But first, I gotta change.”

“Who?” Hinata said, but Koushi was already headed towards the kitchen. Koushi threw the plug in the drain and started the water from the faucet, and began to strip out of his grungy clothes.

He pulled his beer sticky shirt off his back, and threw that in the sink first. Then his runner pants went in. “Do you have to do that in the kitchen?” Hinata asked, wrinkling his nose in the disgust.

“It's the deepest sink you've got,” Koushi said. He pulled his new t-shirt out of the plastic bag, and slipped that over his head. It was gloriously clean.

“Yeah, but I also own a washer and dryer,” Hinata said, watching it unfold. He held his hand out towards Kageyama and covered his eyes. The human swatted it away.

“Too late,” Koushi said, shimmying into his sweatpants.

“He's basically feral,” Kageyama said, staring at Koushi. “He raised you?” He turned to ask Hinata, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

“Suga, what happened last night? How come you never came home?” Hinata demanded, crossing his arms and moving his feet further apart.

“My creator. I saw my creator. And my clothes got ruined,” Koushi said quickly, expressions of anger, fear, annoyance,and sadness flickering across his features so quickly they seemed to blend into one as he rushed through the sentence.

“Did he talk to you?” Hinata asked, fear crossing his face. Koushi turned off the tap.

“He approached me,” Koushi said. “So I ran. I lost my coat.”

“How long did you run?” Hinata asked, walking up and gingerly touching Koushi’s arm, his eyes wide and concerned.

“Several hours,” Koushi said. “I went to sleep on the other side of town. I spent about two hours there before I came here. I'm hoping he gave up on me.”

“Did you get to feed before this happened?” Hinata said nervously.

“No,” Koushi said. “I haven't.” He bit his lip and moved away from Hinata’s touch.

“Drink from Kageyama,” Hinata demanded. “You need to.”

“No,” Koushi said, side eying the human with a certain contempt.

“Hell no is he drinking from me!” Kageyama said at the same time, circling his hands around his neck, and glaring at the pair of vampires.

“Calm down,” Koushi scoffed at Kageyama, rolling his eyes, “I don't want to drink your blood.”

“You have to drink something!” Hinata said. “You're going to get too thirsty, and then you're gonna shut down, and probably attack him anyways.”

“Look, I'll try hunting again,” Koushi said. “I just don't want my creator anywhere near you. He's only here if he wants something,” he narrowed his eyes angrily. Even thinking about his creator made him mad.

“What's the problem with your creator? Wouldn't he just want to see you? Like you wanted to visit Shouyou?” Kageyama asked, seeming lost by the sudden turn of the conversation.

“He doesn't care about me,” Koushi said, perhaps a bit more sharply than he should have to Tobio. “My existence, to him, is a mistake. He wouldn't ever drop in for something purely social.”

“What was he looking for the time he visited us?” Hinata asked.

“He was trying to overthrow a coven in Kyoto,” Koushi replied. “And he wanted my support.” He crossed the kitchen and sat himself down on one of the wood chairs.

“Do you think it’s something like that again?” Hinata asked, finally leaning back against the counter.

“Probably,” Koushi said. “I talked to someone when I landed in Tokyo. They said there's been a lot of petty power struggles in the city recently for hunting territory.” He ran a finger under his chin as he strained to remember.

“Maybe not move to Tokyo,” said Hinata. “Why didn't you warn me about that?” He asked Koushi, giving him a dirty look.

“I didn't think much of it,” Koushi said. “Power struggles ebb and flow,” he went on.

“So what should we do?” Hinata asked.

“I guess wait it out and see what he does? I _do_ need to feed though,” Koushi said. “I kind of got congealed this afternoon,” he admitted with a wince.

“How little blood do you have? That doesn't normally happen in so little time!” Hinata’s eyes had gone wide with worry as he surged forward to examine Koushi’s arm.

“ _I don't know_ ,” Koushi responded, rubbing his forehead. “Look, I'm tired. I'm just going to go and try to find someone, okay?”

“Okay,” Hinata said, and then he kissed the older vampire on the cheek. “Be safe. I'd miss you if you died.”

“You sentimental brat,” Koushi said fondly, and ruffled his former fledgling's hair. “Everything will be fine.”

_xiii_

Koushi didn't go inside the bar that night. He loitered across the street from the exit, and waited for someone to leave, intoxicated and alone.

It was boring, and it was a cold night. Finally, he saw a man, probably in his middle forties stumble out of the bar, gripping the wall for support. Checking to make sure no one was walking towards either of them, Koushi crossed the street. He grabbed the man's head, and the man struggled, but he was no match for Koushi. He smashed the man's head into the wall, not enough to truly hurt him but enough for the man to pass out cold in Koushi's arms. Koushi dragged him into an alleyway with little difficulty.

He pushed the man into the brick wall and crouched over him, resting his body on the man's plump legs as he leaned down to bite into the soft skin of the man's neck.

His blood was vile from alcohol, but Koushi drank slowly, not wanting to repeat his incident of vomiting. It was difficult.

The man began to stir, and made pained noises as he did. Koushi quickly cast his glamor over the man so he would feel no more pain, and instead the man moaned and he moved his hands to grip Koushi’s back.

“I see you still kill indiscriminately, Koushi.”

Koushi stiffened and pulled away from the man's neck at the sound of his creator's voice. “I thought I told you not to call me Koushi, Oikawa,” he said.

_ _

_(artwork by[sad--luck](https://www.instagram.com/sad.luck/). please reblog the artwork on [tumblr](http://sad--luck.tumblr.com/post/140396998821/sorry-this-is-late-its-been-one-hell-of-a-couple).)_

The man Koushi sat on top of made a strained noise. Koushi socked him in the jaw, knocking him out again.

“You have a unique kind of ferociousness, Koushi,” Oikawa replied. He slid down to sit on the ground of the alleyway, and said, “Let's talk.”

“I don't have anything to say to you,” Koushi replied, frowning deeply. “And I don't think you have anything useful to say to me.”

“You wound me,” Oikawa said. “How is your little fledgling doing? It was always _so_ like you to adopt someone else's fledgling,” he emphasized, with a strange smirk.

“I don't know how Hinata's doing,” Koushi lied, still glaring at Oikawa.

“Oh?” Oikawa said. “When did you last see the little squirt?” He somehow kept his voice light and lilting, no matter how belligerent Koushi was in return.

“Decades ago,” Koushi said. “He's different from me. He settles for a few years, then moves on again.”

“Did you raise him to be just as lethal as you?” Oikawa teased.

“He's grown,” Koushi replied. “Hinata does what he wants.” He glared up at Oikawa, who adopted the unnatural stillness of vampires, that even Koushi found unsettling.

“Any idea where he is?”

“China,” Koushi lied. “The pull is west right now. I think he's in China. Why do you care?” he asked belligerently, pushing his unconscious human aside so he could stand up.

“Well, if I'm your creator, and he's your fledgling, aren't we basically family?” Oikawa asked, finally moving from where he leant across the building. He came to stand near to Koushi.

“Why does it matter?” Koushi snarled. “What do you want with me, and what do you want with my _former_ fledgling?”

“You know about the Shiratorizawa group, don't you?” Oikawa asked, waving his hand theatrically as he spoke.

“No,” Koushi answered flatly.

“Oh, Koushi!” Oikawa whined. “You have to, they're only the most famous vampires in Japan!”

“Famous among the _organized_ vampires, maybe,” Koushi responded. “There's plenty of us who are all too happy to exist without your petty power struggles,” he spat.

“You wound me, Koushi,” Oikawa said. “Wouldn't you want to be able to feed off of only the most delectable humans, without fear in your heart of being caught?” He tried to be enthralling, lilting his voice and leering.

“You leave out the fights,” Koushi replied, “and the silly politics.”

“Perhaps some of it may be overwhelming for you Koushi, but think of all that you and your shrimp could gain,” Oikawa replied, hardening his expression.

“Why are you still including Hinata in this?” Koushi said.

“Because I know you're lying,” Oikawa said. “He's somewhere around here, isn't he?”

“Baseless,” Koushi replied. “I have no reason to be around my former fledgling right now.”

“You want to be, though, don't you?”

“What I want is for you to get away from me,” Koushi replied, “and let me feed in peace.” He gave the man’s body a kick for good measure.

“Well, Koushi, I need your support,” Oikawa told him. “Annoying as your sensibilities can be, you are strong and you're smart.” He scoffed as he said this, looking away from his former fledgling.

“I'm just one person. I don't have any connections,” Koushi said. “You could replace me with anyone,” he went on, “So go find someone who actually wants to play your games,” he growled.

“But Koushi, we're family,” Oikawa said, with a stupid half smile.

“No,” Koushi replied, “We're not. You never even wanted me to live.”

“You're really desperate to make yourself think that, aren't you?” Oikawa said.

“I was supposed to die,” Koushi ground out, looking away.

“But you lived,” Oikawa replied. “I could've abandoned you, like your little fledgling's creator did to him. But I raised you, and taught you how to be civilized. Sort of,” he said, tipping his head to the human who was still lying on the concrete passed out cold.

“You think blood bags are more civilized?” Koushi replied. “Feeding off someone and fucking them everyday until your poison slowly kills them? No thanks,” he said with a scowl.

“Well, your existence has a far greater toll on the Earth than mine does,” Oikawa said. “I saw the headlines you've been working up around here, Koushi. Nice work,” he said sarcastically, winking at Koushi.

“I'd rather cut lives off quickly than slowly destroy them,” Koushi snarled.

“I find most of my consorts quite enjoyed our time together,” Oikawa told him.

“Is that your polite word for it?” Koushi asked.

“I prefer the term 'civilized',” Oikawa stressed. “There's no need to insult them.”

“You disgust me,” Koushi said, narrowing his eyes and leaning against the wall.

“Did I disgust you when you were my consort?” Oikawa asked.

“I knew I didn't want to die there,” Koushi finally said, backing down and looking away.

“Koushi, why are you feeding so much?” Oikawa asked him. “There's no reason for you to be feeding multiple times in a week if you drain them every time.”

Koushi hesitated, and then he said, “That's a problem for me. Not for you.”

“Did I hit a nerve, Koushi?” Oikawa asked, smiling innocently.

Koushi snapped, and leapt on top of his creator, caging him against the wall. “If you know what's good for you,” he growled, “You'll get away from here.”

“Or what?” Oikawa asked, not giving any indication of intimidation.

“You'll find out just how 'uncivilized' your creation can be,” Koushi said. He hissed and bared his fangs.

A flicker of fear then crossed Oikawa's face, and the older vampire pushed Koushi off, brushing his shirt. “Fine, you territorial brat,” Oikawa snarled. “But I'll be back.”

Oikawa left, and Koushi turned back to his meal, knowing it was only a temporary solution.

_xiv_

Koushi wanted Oikawa as far away from Hinata as possible.

A secret part of him was really worried that Oikawa might be able to sway the younger vampire. He could see that Hinata, though he tried to hide it, did like having a blood bag around. He probably enjoyed the stability, the emotional connection, and of course, the sex.

But Kageyama would eventually have to die. As far as Koushi knew, Kageyama hadn't decided which way he would die yet. If he wanted to live on as a member of the undead, or if he would choose to lay himself to rest.

Kageyama wasn't going to die for several more months, however. That would give Oikawa plenty of time to sway Hinata before everything fell apart. Even if his former fledgling betrayed him, Koushi still knew he was weak enough that he would come back around and put him back together when the time would come. He was just too weak.

The blood sloshed in his belly as he tried to think of what to do. So Oikawa would actively be seeking out Hinata, and had figured out that he lived nearby, or had at least assumed. Assuming his threats held out, Oikawa wouldn't follow his tug to Koushi, so by going to Hinata's, Koushi would prevent Oikawa from finding him.

Assuming.

Koushi realized that assumption was really all he had to go by—he had no better options. So he reached into the victim’s pockets and found his wallet. He extracted the man's meager cash from it, and thought he might have to replenish soon. He wondered, if Hinata wasn't killing, how was Hinata keeping up with his own finances? Owning a home, one a human inhabited, no less, was an expensive venture compared to wandering. All Koushi needed was fake papers and occasional plane tickets.

Koushi decided not to worry about Hinata's money.

He tucked the man's wallet back into his pocket, and stretched his back. He had to go see Hinata. He walked towards the red head's house quickly, taking care not to dawdle. When he arrived, he pounded at the door.

“Nothing's ever chill with you, huh?” Kageyama answered the door.

“Chill?” Koushi asked, confused by the slang.

“Just get inside,” Kageyama replied, opening the door wider and letting Koushi  in.

Koushi crossed the threshold, and took off his shoes. “Hinata!” he called.

“What is it, Suga?” Hinata shouted from upstairs, sliding into view with his socks streaking across the hardwood floor. “Did you feed alright?”

“Well, I did feed tonight,” Koushi said. “But Oikawa confronted me,” he said, slipping off his jacket and hanging it on a hook.

“Confronted you,” Hinata clarified, raising an eyebrow.

“He snuck up on me while I was feeding.”

“What did he say?” the other vampire asked, descending the staircase.

“He is trying to get our support in another power struggle. He's trying to overthrow some powerful group in Tokyo,” Koushi said.

“The Shiratorizawa group?” Hinata asked, biting his lip.

“Why do you know about these things?” Koushi asked, disapproving.

“I live in Japan all the time!” he said defensively. “They log everyone they find.”

“I thought you were surprised to hear about more struggles in Tokyo,” Koushi said.

“I thought you were talking about little covens fighting over four or five blocks!” Hinata said. “Shiratorizawa is a way bigger problem.” Koushi could tell that Hinata felt nervous even talking about them as he rocked on his feet.

“So they keep track of all the vampires in Japan,” Koushi clarified. “What do they know about you? What do they know about me?” he inquired.

“They know that I’m not a nomad and I don’t keep blood bags,” Hinata said. “Well, used to not keep blood bags…” He said, glancing towards Kageyama, who had wandered into the living room.

“What about me? Did you tell them anything?” Koushi interrogated, drawing Hinata’s attention back to him.

“I told them that I hadn’t seen my creator since he cut me loose,” Hinata said. “Which is true. Your creator doesn’t have to be the vampire who raised you.”

Koushi calmed down a little. “Okay, good,” he said. “I don’t like the idea of super groups knowing about me,” he said, letting his shoulders fall back.

“Well, that’s if Oikawa hasn’t told them he created you. But he doesn’t really know much about you, does he?” Hinata said.

“He thinks I’m a blood thirsty monster,” Koushi replied, rolling his eyes.

“Well, you have been acting like one the last few weeks, because of that messed up fixation,” Hinata said.

“But I’m not usually like that!” Koushi complained childishly, frowning.

“I know. Still, it’s not really sustainable… I’m kind of surprised Shiratorizawa hasn’t come here because of the headlines,” Hinata said, seeming guilty.

“Why?”

“Because they would probably assume it was me,” Hinata said, and smiled dolefully.

Koushi rubbed his forehead. “I should leave. All I'm going to bring you is trouble. First my maker, then some crazy tyrant group...”

“No, no, Suga, I like having you here! It's nice to be with you again. Please don't leave,” Hinata said, gripping Koushi’s shoulders.

Koushi heard Kageyama curse, “Dammit,” from the other room.

“I guess I need to be more careful then,” Koushi said. “If you want me staying around. Can I stay here tomorrow during the day?”

“No,” Kageyama called from the other room.

“ _Yes_ ,” Hinata called back, and then looked Koushi in the eyes, and said, “We'll figure this out. But I would appreciate if you fed further out from now on. Take a train across the prefecture or something.”

“Got it,” Koushi replied.

_xv_

Suga was gone for another two days.

The rational part of Daichi's brain was saying that he was being an idiot. Why was he so concerned about some hobo anyways? Suga was kind of mean, and he was dirty, and sometimes he said things that just creeped Daichi out. So why did he get nervous when Suga wasn't taking a nap in that same old spot in the alleyway?

Life, however, had continued as normal. Daichi was crushed under schoolwork. Nishinoya flirted with his regular.

It got old.

Thankfully, the afternoon finally rolled around, and so did Ennoshita and Tanaka to take their shift. Nishinoya zipped out before Daichi as usual. Daichi took his time putting on his jacket, grabbed his bag and then walked out the back door.

Suga was actually there today. He was leaning against the brick wall, awake and agitated looking. He shifted to look at Daichi, and then smirked, and said, “What, no food today?”

“I could go get some,” Daichi said, turning back towards the door.

“No,” he said, “Don't trouble yourself. I'm in too bad a mood to eat sweets.”

“What's wrong?” Daichi asked him.

“No real issue,” Suga replied. “Life's falling apart. Bad people harassing me. Nothing I can't handle,” he went on, a shit eating grin on his face as he looked up at the cloudy sky. It seemed he was talking to himself more than he was talking to Daichi.

“You can talk to me about it if you want,” Daichi said, sliding down the wall to sit down across from Suga.

“It's fine,” Suga said. “Just... taking care of business. I might leave soon though.”

“I'd miss you.”

“Why?”

“There's just something about you,” Daichi said. “I like being around you.”

“You're too pleasant for your own good, Daichi,” Suga said.

Daichi realized that was only the second time Suga had ever called him by his name.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter four, Fine Dining, will be published on AO3 on Sunday, March 6th.
> 
> Don't forget to read the chapter four preview on my writing tumblr, goldshardwrites, on Wednesday.
> 
> Artwork by sad--luck, as always. Please reblog on tumblr.


	4. Fine Dining

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koushi feeds off of Daichi for the first time, and realizes he's made a serious mistake.

_xvi_

Koushi waited five days before he went hunting again.

By that point, he needed it, and Hinata basically forced him out of the house, and pressed a train card in his hand and said, “Go, stupid.”

He walked to the train station, and stared at the board advertising the different trains that were coming through. Honestly, he hadn't really asked Hinata about any decent places to go, and he didn't want to feed in either of the cities he'd hunted in already.

Koushi stared at all the different trains on the board and finally decided just to take the train that was departing the soonest. He knew that most of these towns were very small, but surely there had to be someone around.

He paid and boarded the train, taking a seat near the door. He didn't really like the dusky light that was still permeating the sky, so he rode a while, trying to look boring while he waited for the sun to fall all the way under the horizon.

He got off at a station that seemed reasonably large enough to cater to a busy enough town. He followed the crowd out and up the road into a quaint downtown.

Koushi took a few minutes to analyze his surroundings. He took in what seemed to be busy restaurants, and businesses that had already closed for the day. A lot of the people who had been on the train with him were walking westward, probably towards a more residential area.

He headed up the street, carefully taking in all the businesses he passed by, until he came across a bar that looked bustling enough for him. He walked in, and took a seat at the bar, carefully looking over the other patrons around him.

“Can I get you anything?”

Koushi turned his head at the sound of the voice, and found himself looking at the barkeep. “Yeah, sure...” he said, and then ordered a beer.

The bartender grabbed a bottle from his fridge and popped the cap off, then handed it to Koushi. Koushi paid and left a generous tip. He lifted the drink to his lips, but did not sip before he put it back down.

None of the people here seemed quite right for him. Koushi normally did better with women than men, as he relied on sexuality to draw people in. That didn't mean he didn't hunt men, though. But the men here all seemed to be in rowdy groups. He had the least success with men like that.

The women here were too sober, and they were fewer and more far between, most of them on the arm of someone else. This bar was probably a bad pick, Koushi mused.

“I need to speak with you,” someone said, and put their hand on Koushi's shoulder.

Koushi jumped at the sudden contact, and turned around in his bar stool to face the other. But as soon as he looked in his eyes, he knew it: this man was a vampire.

Koushi just had the worst luck with meeting others lately, didn't he?

He took him in: this vampire was notably larger than he was, but that didn't mean everything. However, Koushi was weak from not feeding for so long already... Koushi probably wouldn't win a fight against anyone right now. So he hoped this other vampire would be cooperative.

“Let's take it outside, then,” Koushi said, looking up at the other vampire. He slid off his seat and led the vampire outside.

The other had a sure and steady gait, but Koushi could tell that this vampire also hadn't fed in some time, and wasn't feeling his best as well. They walked out of the bar, and down the block in silence. Koushi sat on bench outside a closed storefront. He still held his beer.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“My name is Ushijima,” the other vampire said. “I am a member of the Shiratorizawa group. I am investigating this area.” Ushijima did not sit, he only stood in front of Koushi, holding a stone cold expression.

Koushi tried not to visibly react. “Is that so?” he replied.

“Who are you? State your affiliation, please.” Ushijima folded his arms.

“I'd really prefer to not be in anyone's records,” Koushi said, waving an arm over his head exaggeratedly.

“I'm afraid that's not an option,” Ushijima replied. “I don't know if you're a newborn, or just new to Japan, but it would not do well to cross Shiratorizawa.”

“My name is Sugawara Koushi,” Koushi conceded.

“Who is your creator?”

Koushi hesitated. If these people knew Oikawa, Oikawa had probably reported that Koushi was his creation. But Oikawa was a dissenter. Koushi had no idea how serious his dissension was, however. Would he even be on this group's radar yet?

“I'm waiting,” Ushijima said.

“I was created by Oikawa Tooru,” Koushi said. “I have been nomadic since he cut me loose. I have not spent a significant amount of time in Japan since.”

“You are aware that Oikawa is considered an enemy of the Shiratorizawa group?” Ushijima said, and furrowed his eyebrows. Had he tightened his lips just a bit?

“I did not know that he had troubled your coven,” Koushi lied quickly. He gripped the beer bottle tightly to calm his nerves.

“You would do well not to associate with him any further,” Ushijima said.

“Don't worry,” Koushi replied, “We have no alliance. We are on distinctly _unfriendly_ terms,” he stressed, opening his eyes wide.

“In that case,” Ushijima said, “I would be happy to invite you to join as a tertiary to the group. Membership comes with many perks.” He softened a little bit, dropping his arms and letting his shoulders droop a little.

“I'm no fighter,” Koushi said, grimacing.

“I agree that you do not seem strong,” Ushijima replied, and Koushi wasn’t sure whether or not to feel offended. “But we can always benefit from another pair of ears.”

“I don't think my ears are going to hear much you're interested in,” Koushi said. “I'm not planning to stay in Japan for long.”

“I see. So there is no way to convince you?”

“I don't do anything for anyone but myself,” Koushi said. “I like to be solitary.”

“Fine, then,” Ushijima said, “but one more thing. Do you know who's responsible for the high levels of feeding in this area?”

“No,” Koushi said, perhaps a little too quickly.

“Well, you see,” Ushijima said, “We've got about twenty five vampires logged in this prefecture now. And the only rogue that I've found is _you._ ” He took a step closer to Koushi. Koushi was pretty sure his stomach had dropped out of his body and he’d left it somewhere on the ground.

“Wouldn't you think that is is all pretty circumstantial?” Koushi asked nervously.

“Japan doesn't get a lot of rogues,” Ushijima said. “It's too hard to get here, it's too expensive. I can tell you were born Japanese, and I don't know what you're doing here now... But get yourself under control.” He clenched his teeth and glared.

“I am under control,” Koushi said defensively, letting go of the bottle to clench his hands into fists, pressed against the bench.

“Well then, if you really need to feed this often, get a consort,” the other replied. “Think about what is good for our species and theirs.”

“I really would rather not,” Koushi said firmly.

“It's a symbiotic relationship we have with humans,” Ushijima declared, “You'd best get ahold of yourself.”

“I'm totally in control. Now let me feed.”

“Don't hunt tonight,” Ushijima said, reaching out to grip Koushi's wrist, and staring into his eyes, his jaw set and his expression devoid of outer emotion besides conviction.

Koushi shivered with the dull realization that this was a truly terrifying vampire. How many others were there that were like this one?

“Okay, okay,” Koushi said. “Now, if you'd let go of me.”

Koushi tugged his wrist and the other's grip fell away.

“Remember what I said,” Ushijima said, “The offer stands.”

“Uh huh,” Koushi replied, “Bye.”

He turned away and walked out of the alleyway. If there was a murder in the papers tomorrow, would Ushijima hunt him down? Or would he follow him until dawn?

He blinked at the dull light of the street lights, and decided to walk home. Thirst crept into his throat, burning hot. Even if he didn't have a stupid half formed fixation ( _dependency_ ) on Daichi, he'd be reaching an uncomfortable point in his feeding cycle at the point of about a week since he'd fed.

He couldn't go to Hinata. The pint sized vampire would freak out if he came back having not fed again. Even if Koushi explained about Shiratorizawa.

He wasn't supposed to go there during the day anyways.

Home. Where was home? He hadn't had a home in decades.

He thought of that nice spot in the alley, where no sunlight hit him during the day...

Home.

_xvii_

Daichi got to work at 5:30, as usual on Tuesdays. He let himself in at the front in the early morning. It was quicker, and there was no one out to see.

He locked the door behind himself, flicked on the front lights, and got to work. He turned on the oven in the back and let it preheat. He took the premade batter out from the fridge, and oiled the muffin trays to back the fresh batches for this morning.

Daichi wasn't much of a baker. Ennoshita had a habit of preparing the batter for him on the mornings he was alone. Ennoshita was the best.

Once the muffins were in the oven, he cleaned the counters and swept the front of the shop. Then he took out the first batch and put in the second. He went back out front and cleaned all the tables, and checked his watch. They were opening in fifteen minutes.

He started a pot of plain black coffee for himself. The oven dinged, signaling that the second batch was ready. He removed the batch, and then took the first batch out of the baking tray and organized the muffins in the display cases.

It was time to open up. He flipped the sign and unlocked the front door, and then turned the radio on. He poured his own coffee, and sipped until the first customers of the day began to trickle in.

His days working without anyone else were exhausting and lonely, even if he spent most of the day chatting with people as he made coffees and rang up orders.

“You look overworked,” one older woman told him at around ten thirty.

“I'm fine,” Daichi told her. He crushed the grounds for her latte.

“They shouldn't have you in here alone,” she said briskly. “It's too much work.”

“It's not that bad,” Daichi said. “We're a small shop, so it never gets super crowded. And I get all the tips to myself!” he told her.

She smiled, and he finished preparing her latte, and then grabbed her chocolate chip muffin. He rang her up, and she tipped him handsomely.

The tips on his days alone really were good at the low points in the morning. Daichi figured they must feel bad for him.

Ennoshita came to take over the afternoon-evening shift as usual. There was not even a single customer in the place at the time. “How was the morning?” he asked mildly.

“Quiet,” Daichi replied, “Not very busy at all. Thanks for the batter.”

“No problem,” Ennoshita replied.

Daichi stepped in the back and took off his apron. He put on his coat and grabbed a pastry bag, and selected a couple things for Suga from the box. He rolled up the top of the bag and gripped it in his hand, and let himself out.

Honestly, Suga hadn't been around much lately. But today he was. “Hey,” Daichi greeted him, bending down to give the other the bag. “How have you—”

Daichi was stunned into silence as the man surged forward, shaken from whatever stupor he'd been in. He caught a tight grip on Daichi's coat, digging his fingers into it.

Daichi yelped, and tried to say something. But the other crossed his legs over Daichi's, knocking him to his knees with a strength he'd have never expected from Suga. Pain bloomed in his kneecaps as they hit the cement. Suga forced him to turn around, pressing Daichi’s face into the rough brick wall. He slapped a hand over Daichi’s mouth to muffle him.

Daichi licked his palm, hoping it’d disgust him, trying to think of something, anything to deter Suga. He felt truly outclassed in strength. Suga didn't react to Daichi's weak struggles, and he buried his face in the crook of Daichi's neck. Once, twice, he licked a patch of skin, and then he bit.

Daichi tried to scream. Suga pushed the heel of his palm between Daichi's teeth, muffling him. Suga had literally bit through the skin with his teeth, and then his flesh at the entry point started to burn, as if he'd splashed rubbing alcohol on an open cut.

Daichi screwed his eyes shut from the pain, and felt tears begin to bead and drip down his cheeks. There was a faint sensation of a tug where Suga had bitten him, and Daichi realized that Suga was drinking his blood.

The sting spread from the bite throughout his neck, but the will to resist, to fight, or even to scream was slowly fading away. Daichi felt intensely exhausted.

It felt like ages, but really, it couldn't have been that long. Just as suddenly as he'd attacked him, Suga dislodged himself from Daichi's neck, and Daichi's head drooped, released from his grip.

Suga panicked and threw Daichi off of him, and the Daichi fell back. He struggled to get himself into a less awkward position, and turned to face Suga.

“I'm so sorry,” Suga said.

“What... are you...” Daichi mumbled, looking up at Suga. His limbs felt numb and heavy.

“You, you need...” Suga shuffled through the pastry bag and pulled out a brownie. He pried Daichi's jaw open to shove the brownie between his teeth. “Eat it,” Suga urged.

Daichi just stared at him, the brownie hanging from his mouth. Suga's eyes really were red. The inside of his lips were red too, stained with his blood, the blood Suga had drank...

Fear gripped him, and he tried to move away from Suga, but all he did was corner himself between Suga and a brick wall.

“Eat it,” Suga said, “You'll feel a little better.”

He seemed to reach some kind of realization. He broke off the part of the brownie that he couldn’t get into Daichi’s mouth. “Chew,” Suga order.

Laboriously, Daichi chewed the food in his mouth and swallowed. Suga stuffed the rest in, and Daichi repeated the process. The food felt like a rock in his gut.

“Why?” Daichi asked. “Why?”

Suga just looked small, and panicked. “I'm sorry,” he repeated.

It was disconcerting. This man, this thing, had just wielded so much power over him, and now he crouched, looking pathetic and terrified.

“I... I have to go. I'm sorry,” Suga said. Then he got up to his feet, and he ran.

_xviii_

People looked at Koushi strangely as he ran up the streets, but he didn't care. He had to get to Hinata's. It wasn't safe in that alley, he had to get away from Daichi, he had to get out of the sun.

He could feel the heat rising to the top of his skin as sun poisoning set in. It was winter, but today there was not a cloud in the sky, so plenty of sunlight was still getting through to burn him.

If he stayed out here too long, he'd become thirsty and then... Koushi did not want to even think about what he would do then.

He got to Hinata's and began to pound on the door. No one answered. Was Kageyama out? Hinata had to be asleep right now, so Kageyama would be the only person to answer the door. What would Kageyama even be doing if he went out?

Just as he was trying to figure out how to break into the house, (did he need permission if he went inside through something that wasn’t a door?) Kageyama opened the door, looking groggy. “What are you doing here right now?” he asked, yawning loudly.

“Let me in,” Koushi just said.

“Fine,” Kageyama replied, “Come on in.”

Koushi hurried past him and did not even bother to kick off his shoes. He strode up the stairs and into Hinata's bedroom, where the younger vampire was wrapped up in his sheets, dozing soundly.

“Wake up,” Koushi said, and began to shake Hinata's shoulder.

The vampire blinked and yawned, shrugging off Koushi's grip. He rubbed his eyes. “Suga, what're you doing here, it's still day...”

“I fed off Daichi.”

“What? Why? I thought you went hunting last night...” He arched his spine and stretched his arms over his head, blinking quizzically at Koushi.

“I didn't. I couldn't. Shiratorizawa.” Koushi pressed his face into his palms, feeling sick.

“Koushi,” Hinata yawned , “Slow down. It's like, three in the afternoon.”

“Someone from Shiratorizawa caught me last night while I was hunting. He interrogated me and threatened me,” Koushi said. “They don't want me to be here anymore. I'm causing a disturbance.”

_[artwork by[sad--luck](https://www.instagram.com/sad.luck/). please reblog the art on [tumblr](http://sad--luck.tumblr.com/post/140583167674/the-page-for-chapter-four-of-the-nature-of-the).]_

“Then what happened?” Hinata asked.

“I stumbled back in town and passed out behind the cafe. I wasn't in a very good state of mind.”

“Well, it'd been like, a week,” Hinata said. He finally seemed to look awake. He ran his fingers through his bedhead as Koushi talked.

“Well, Daichi woke me up when he got out of work, and I pounced.”

“How much did you take?” Hinata asked, suddenly looking nervous.

“A lot, but not to much,” Koushi said. “He stayed conscious. I made him eat one of those stupid pastries he keeps giving me. Then I ran.” Koushi got off the bed and started to pace anxiously.

“God, you made a mess,” Hinata said. “You should've taken him back here.”

Koushi stopped pacing. “Yes, I should've carried a barely conscious human back to your house.”

“Yes.”

“Hinata, it's the afternoon. I would've burned up on the way,” he said, “Not to mention the stares.”

“Oh,” Hinata said. “Sorry, I’m kind of stupid right after I wake up…”

“Hinata, what do I do?”

“How am I supposed to know?” the younger vampire questioned. “I'm not the expert on life here. All I ever did was mess up just like you! That's the reason Tobio's here! Do you think I'm all knowing on fixations or something? Do you think I've been hiding blood bags from you before? Why do you want me to have all the answers!”

Neither spoke. Koushi just looked at Hinata. Hinata breathed in heavily after his outburst. He was still ruffled from sleep, his clothes wrinkled and his hair a mess. There were little lines under his eyes. Koushi was struck. Even at the worst of times before, he'd always seen Hinata so optimistic. This side of him was eerie.

“How long have you been holding that in?” Koushi asked, finally letting his shoulders relax.

“A week or two,” Hinata breathed out.

“I'm sorry for making you feel that way,” Koushi said.

“It's just, like, I understand you've been so stressed out and scared. But as soon as something happens you come back here and demand I tell you what to do, just because I've had the experience of having one blood bag ever. But I don't know things Koushi. You know way more about the world than I do,” Hinata said, “I'm your old fledgling, but I'm not worldly. I'm just a vampire hiding in a small town trying to carve out an existence. I like having you around. I like having someone who cares about me who's not being turned inside out by venom, like Tobio is. But you just seem to try to unload all your stress on me and I can't take it,” he said, looking at his hands.

“Look,” Koushi replied, “I'm sorry. I know it doesn't feel like this, but I consider you wise. Your opinion is important to me.”

“Then when you leave will you actually talk to me this time?” Hinata asked. “You can get a phone. They're super cheap.”

“I don't understand them,” Koushi stated wearily. “How would I charge it?”

“Oh, huh.” Hinata said. “At least send letters or something. I only change my address like, every ten years. It's one way but it'd be something, you know?”

“I'll try,” Koushi replied. He put his hands over his face, and said, “God, I fed off him. I'm fixated on him now. What am I going to do...?”

“I don't know,” Hinata shrugged.

“I guess I'll have to find him and see how big a dose of venom he got...” Koushi said. “I fed a lot off him. I'm really surprised he didn't pass out. What happened to Kageyama the first time you fed off him?”

“He was really sick and exhausted,” Hinata said. “He gets really tired when I don't feed now. It's super weird.”

“How has he changed?” Koushi asked nervously. Could Daichi be living Kageyama's reality soon? Koushi had doomed that kind hearted human.

“Well, he's never been all that nice,” Hinata admitted, “But he's definitely gotten meaner lately. He has a short attention span. And he follows my sleep schedule.”

“What about, well, his body?” Koushi asked.

“He doesn't eat a big variety of foods anymore I guess,” Hinata said. “He eats mostly rice now, I'm trying to get him to eat more protein, but he's just not interested, or he throws up afterwards. He's starting to get the pain back in full force, too. He's always acting like he isn't, but I can tell. He sits too still, sometimes, like you or I might. That's when I can tell he's faking.”

“Is there any chance you could cut yourself off anymore?” Koushi said, raising his eyebrows.

“No,” Hinata said. “Tobio's done for. He has to decide if he wants to become a vampire or die,” he said. “There's no way he could ever recover and be an independent human again. Sooner or later his body will just give up unless I turn him.” His voice wobbled at the end, and he clenched his eyes shut but a single tear escaped. Koushi watched it roll down his cheek.

“I'm sorry,” Koushi said.

“I... I knew this would happen,” Hinata said. “I knew from the beginning, but at first this point seemed so far away, but now it's here, and I care about him. I really do. I want him to be okay, but I'm the one that's destroying him from the inside. It's painful. And he acts like he loves me. I don't even know if it's another one of his shows or not...” He’d started to cry in full force, not bothering to try to stop the tears.

“It may not mean much,” Koushi said, “But I loved Oikawa once, when I was a human. Until I figured out he planned to kill me.” He meant it as some measure of comfort, and he tried to soften his voice.

“You just had that annoying will to live,” Hinata hiccuped.

“He should've picked better,” Koushi said, smiling slyly.

“I'm glad you did,” Hinata said. “I wish I remembered my human life. I wonder if I was someone's blood bag once. Everyday I wonder why I woke up like this.” He began to calm down, and wiped the tears away with his index finger.

“It doesn't make any sense,” Koushi conceded to the other. “I've never met anyone who was abandoned by their creator but you, in all these years.”

“It's kind of a lousy feeling,” Hinata said, scowling.

“Whoever it was made a serious mistake,” Koushi said tenderly, “Leaving a fledgling with as much potential as you behind.”

“Is it selfish of me to hope I can turn Tobio?” Hinata asked. “I don't like being a vampire. I'm jealous of humans. But I don't want Tobio to die. Even if I wouldn't feed off him, I want him around,” he went on, “I guess I just like him too much.” He bit his lip.

“I never want to turn someone,” Koushi said. “I hate this life. I don't want to give it to anyone else. But changing Kageyama is your decision,” he emphasized looking into his fledgling’s red eyes.

“It's not,” Hinata said. “It's his.”

“Right...” Koushi said. “I hope I'm not fixated,” Koushi went on, “I hope I can just never go near him again, and move on.”

“I doubt it,” Hinata said. “Like, you were halfway there. You wanted him _bad._ ”

“Well, I've known humans before who I really thirsted after...” Koushi said.

“What happened to them?” Hinata asked.

“I killed them,” Koushi said flatly, looking away.

“Figures,” Hinata replied. “I don't think I've ever heard of a vampire not being fixated when they don't kill a human...”

“I hope it's possible.”

“Maybe you should stop hoping,” Hinata said. “I think we should test your fixation.”

“How do you plan to do that?” Koushi asked, raising an eyebrow.

Hinata crawled across the bed, and pulled open a drawer in the nightstand. He took out a small knife, and called, “Tobio!”

“You're going to cut him, aren't you?” Koushi asked. “Don't do that.” He tried to take the knife from Hinata, but Hinata moved too quickly for him.

“What is it?” Kageyama asked, walking into the room.

“I need to see something,” Hinata said. He held up the knife. “Do you mind?” he asked.

“Not really,” Kageyama said, and stepped closer to the bed.

Koushi found himself disturbed by this interaction. He knew that venom made humans unusually subservient, but it was frightening to see it play out so darkly.

Kageyama held out his arm, and Hinata surveyed it for a moment.

“This is a stupid test,” Koushi said. “I can resist blood just fine. And I just fed.”

“You react to it though,” Hinata said. “Remember when Tobio nicked himself with the knife? You stiffened for a moment.”

Hinata turned Kageyama's arm over in his hands, and then asked, “Can I see the other one? I don't want to mess with your writing arm.”

Kageyama shrugged, and held out his left hand. “I don’t care.”

Hinata held he the knife firmly, and made a shallow cut on Kageyama's index finger. Koushi watched the human take a deep breath and bite his lip when he did it, and felt bad for him.

Blood welled over the narrow cut, and began to trail down. It flowed in a narrow line from the cut unto the palm of his hand, which hung upside down. A single drop fell onto Hinata's sheets.

“Nothing,” Hinata stated, looking unsurprised. “You're fixated. I don't react to other blood. Well, I think. I guess.”

The younger vampire lifted Kageyama's hand and licked over the line of blood right to source, and then licked his lips. Kageyama smiled a little. Koushi's stomach churned.

“You should bandage that,” Koushi said, frowning.

“Yeah, hold on,” Hinata said. He bent over and hung off the side of the bed, and pulled a black box out from under the bed. He unclipped the top, and opened a sterile disinfectant pad, which he wiped along the cut. Kageyama hissed audibly from the sting.

“You baby,” Hinata teased fondly. He took out a bandage, and put it on top of the tiny cut. “Thanks, Kageyama,” he said.

“No problem,” the human said. “I've got plenty.” His expression was… tranquil. Koushi didn’t like it all. Would Daichi be like that someday?

Once the human had left, Koushi said, “You shouldn't treat him like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“If you love him, don't use him. It's creepy,” Koushi said. “You called him in and he just let you cut him. That's messed up.”

“That's how he is now,” Hinata said, sounding confused.

“At least tell him why. Ask him. Don't just say, 'do you mind?'”

“I'm sorry.”

“Look, Hinata,” Koushi said, “If you want to fix that relationship, maybe end up with a real companion,” he said, “I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. That's him.”

_xix_

Daichi's body ached as he tried to process what had happened to him. Suga had attacked him... and now he was gone...

Daichi laboriously moved to kneel and then stand up, his legs feeling shaky underneath the weight of his body. He splayed a hand against the brick wall to steady himself.

His entire body felt weak, and used. He took a careful step forward, and was frustrated by how much effort it seemed to take.

Daichi couldn't go to class like this. It looked like he was playing hooky tonight so he could recover.

Daichi didn't live very far from the cafe, only a few blocks up, but getting home felt like torture. It just took him so long as he frequently stopped for breaks, and he was reduced to maybe a third of his usual walking speed.

He finally arrived at the tiny apartment complex he lived in, and felt very glad to have the good fortune of living on the first floor. He hastily unlocked his door and stumbled in, locking the deadbolt behind him. With a sudden feeling of nervousness, he made sure all of his windows were locked, before collapsing on the couch.

He ached. A dull pain radiated from the point on his neck where Suga had... Suga had bitten him.

Suga had pierced his skin with his teeth, he'd torn the side of Daichi's throat open, and he'd drank Daichi's blood. Daichi had trouble even believing himself as he remembered the way Suga had held him down and the savage currents of pain that had traveled through his body like a shockwave as Suga had bitten into him. It was ridiculous to think about. But the moment was burnt into Daichi's memory—he didn't think he could ever forget that terror however long he may live.

Suga had smelt like sweat. His eyes were off focus, and there had been a hint of desperation in his expression and his actions. When he'd finished, Suga was... sweet to him. Suga tried to make him eat.

Daichi rolled over and took a nap, sleeping fitfully.

When he woke he woke covered in sweat and shaking from some forgotten nightmare.

He got up and walked over to the wall to look at himself in the mirror. His skin was chalky and pallid, his eyes sunken. But on the side of his neck were two violent punctures that had scabbed over and seemed to already be healing. The skin there was a caked with dried blood.

He was amazed no one had stopped him on his way back to his apartment.

He was hungry. He dragged himself into his kitchen, and rummaged in the fridge. He found a box of leftover take out, so he threw it in the microwave and waited. He wasn't sure what to do about the headache. He finally rummaged through his medicine cabinet and found a bottle of ibuprofen, and swallowed two tablets of it just as the microwave dinged.

He grabbed a fork and took the unidentifiable meal out of the microwave. It smelled like beef and teriyaki. He ate quickly once he got started, feeling suddenly ravenous as the first bite hit his tongue.

The food was soon gone, and Daichi felt overfull. The ibuprofen hadn't kicked in.

He felt a sudden stab of pain in his stomach—and then he turned around and threw up in the sink.

_xx_

Daichi got out of work at two o'clock. So at one thirty Koushi walked to the cafe and down the alleyway leading to the back entrance. Koushi scaled the wall as best he could, and hoisted himself onto the roof of one of the neighboring buildings. He'd been exposed to the sun the whole time. He laid his arm out from the shadow of his torso, and watched the skin quickly redden in the sun.

This was an awful, crappy idea, this whole reconnaissance mission. Maybe coming back to Japan had been an awful, crappy idea. Koushi watched a blister form on his arm.

Letting himself get sun sickness was stupid, but he had to watch Daichi without being seen. The effects of sun sickness weren't just on the visible level, he'd need to feed again soon, and he wouldn't be at his best judgement because of it.

What a great mix.

Koushi had borrowed a watch from Kageyama, and he watched the time tick by. His head started to pound a little bit by 1:50.

Just a few more minutes. He just had to hold out for a few more minutes, assess Daichi's condition, and then go back to Hinata's. He'd have to hope nobody on the streets thought too hard about his pitiful condition and acrid smell when he was on his way back.

Daichi never came out of the cafe. Koushi had burnt himself up for nothing.

Koushi knew Daichi's schedule. He was supposed to work today. So he must have not come in because he was sick. Was he really that bad off?

Koushi had felt moderately full after he'd fed, so there was a chance that Daichi had gotten a pretty massive venom dose.

He grudgingly let himself off the rooftop and hurried back to Hinata's. The burns were getting bad, and he couldn't walk as well because of it. He hobbled back, and knocked weakly on the door, because the blisters on his hands made it hurt to knock any harder.

Kageyama was listening for him at least, because the door opened with the first knock.

“How was he?” Kageyama asked, his eyes wide.

“Wasn't there,” Koushi grunted, collapsing against the door once it was shut behind him. He noticed that Kageyama was frowning. “What?” he asked.

“I don't like my life being like this,” Kageyama said. “I'm angry that you've doomed someone else to this.”

“Hey,” Koushi said with a shrug, “I tried.” He tried to be nonchalant. He disliked being lectured by a human, of all things.

“You were reckless,” Kageyama replied.

“If you'd let me stay here during the day, none of this would've happened,” Koushi said angrily. “I would've curled up with your vampire boy toy and slept all day and been out of here in a few weeks. That would’ve been the end of it. But you had to be difficult..”

“Suga, stop picking on Tobio,” Hinata called, appearing at the top of the stairs, rubbing his eyes. “Oh, geez, Suga, you're a mess,” he said when he saw the other vampire. He ruffled a hand in his sleep tousled hair as he descended the staircase.

“I just spent an hour in the sun,” Koushi groaned. “I don't know when Daichi goes to work, so I can't watch him in the morning.”

Hinata gripped Koushi's wrists and pulled him up, and Koushi collapsed against Hinata once hewas back on his u. “Okay,” Hinata muttered. “Let's get you in the kitchen.”

Kageyama reluctantly let Hinata loop one of Koushi's arms around his neck so that they could drag him into the kitchen, setting him down on one of the chairs as Hinata started the sink.

“Is there anything he can do?” Kageyama asked. Hinata wet a rag in the sink and squeezed excess water out. He pressed the rag on Koushi's arm. His bare skin had gotten the worst of it.

“The only thing that heals sun sickness is time,” Hinata replied, “And blood, sort of. But drinking just makes you stronger in general.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“Taking care of the worst of it,” Koushi ground out, his jaw clenched. The cold rag helped leech some of the heat out from the rashes.

“It's just pain relief,” Hinata explained. “What other symptoms do you have?”

“Foggy,” Koushi said. “A little thirsty.”

“Good, you're not too bad off then,” Hinata replied as he wet another rag. He wrung it out and placed that one around the back of Koushi's neck.

Koushi sighed a breath of relief and closed his eyes. “Sun sickness sucks,” he said.

“You shouldn't do this reconnaissance crap,” Hinata said. “It's too risky.”

“Then what _should_ I do?”

“You need to talk to him.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Five, Half of the Truth, will be published on March 13th.
> 
> Beautiful art by sad--luck. Please click the link above and reblog the artwork on tumblr.
> 
> Don't forget to read the chapter five preview on my writing blog goldshardwrites on Wednesday.
> 
> See you next week everyone!


	5. Half of the Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koushi realizes he has become entirely fixated on Daichi. Daichi squeezes the truth out of him.

_xxi_

Koushi leaned against the wall of the club, feeling the bass vibrate the sheet rock. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

He didn't want to feed off anyone here, but he had to try. He'd ignored Hinata's advice and stayed clear of the cafe for the past few days. But now he needed to feed.

Sometimes if he moved wrong the burns and the blisters from his sun sickness would still hurt. It had only been a few days, though. He would heal in time.

He opened his eyes slowly and took in the different groups of people, searching for someone who seemed... easy.

He wasn't in the mood at all tonight, really. Usually when he went hunting in clubs, he got a certain thrill of it. He _liked_ hunting in a perverse way. He didn't like killing and he didn’t like clubs, but the lead up could be fun. He liked dancing and he liked the sexuality of it. The feeling of a warm pair of hips grinding against his had no equal, he liked to think.

But tonight he just felt bored. He wanted to be in Hinata's quiet house, or maybe just taking a nap. He couldn't rouse his own interest at all, and he felt like the clubbers around him could sense his lack of enthusiasm. Usually when he went out like this, if he tried to look nice enough he generated a fair bit of attention without doing much, but tonight it seemed like the other clubbers were just ignoring him.

Koushi merged himself with the crowd, his eyes flicking from person to person. He finally spotted a girl who seemed to be dancing alone, and he laid his hands on her hips and pulled her close. The girl rocked back and ground against him. She tangled a hand in her long hair as she swung her hips. She held a beer above her head with her other hand.

Koushi grinded with her, and leaned down to kiss the back of her neck. The girl turned around and tugged his collar, her eyes flashing in the strobe lighting. “Let me buy you a drink!” Koushi shouted over the music. The girl laughed, and let him grab her wrist and lead her out of the throng towards the bar. She finished the beer she already had, and set the bottle on the bar.

“So, what do you want?” he asked her, his voice straining loud over the music.

The girl looked over the selection, and said, “A rum and coke!”

Koushi flagged the bartender over and ordered the drink. He slinked his arm around the girl’s waist, and she huddled herself closing to him, glancing up at him with hooded eyes.

“What's your name?” he asked her.

“Kana,” she replied. The bartender passed them her drink. “What's yours?” she asked.

“Suga,” Koushi said as he paid the bartender and tipped him.

“Anything for you?” the bartender asked him again.

“Yeah, Suga, are you gonna get anything?” Kana asked him.

“I don't want another drink right now,” Koushi told her. “So no, no thanks.”

He tugged her away from the bar and continued to chat her up as best he could with the blaring music. It helped that she was so interested herself, Koushi didn't have a hard time with her at all.

She finished her drink, and that was when Koushi kissed her. She dropped the empty plastic cup on the floor and wrapped her arms around his shoulders as she kissed him back. Once they pulled apart, Koushi asked, “So, should we get out of here?”

She giggled and agreed. They both got their coats from the coat check and hurried out of the club, and in the relative quietness of the streets Koushi could see that she was far more drunk than he could tell inside. Her cheeks seemed bright red in the yellow tinted light from the street lights, and she teetered on a pair of thin heels as she leant on his shoulder for support.

“Lets get to my place,” Koushi told her. They continued up the street, and then turned onto a quieter side street. It was lined with shops that were long closed for the night, and hardly any other pedestrians.

He pulled her into an alley, and the girl didn't even protest, she just giggled and clung to him. “What's the fuss?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Koushi said. He pressed her against the wall and kissed her again, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his body closer. He pulled himself away from her lips and licked down the line of her jaw. He cast his glamour over her, and then bit the skin cleanly, and took a sip.

Overcome with revulsion, he gagged and spit the blood out.

“Fuck,” he muttered.

“Mmm,” Kana murmured. “Why'd you stop?” She blinked slowly and looked at him.

“I... I have to go,” Koushi told her.

“What do you mean?”

“I'm sorry,” he said.

He backed away from her and ran off, knowing there was no one she'd be able to follow him. His glamour left her with no idea what had really happened, and hopefully her drunkenness would make any other memories of him fuzzy...

Koushi wanted to punch something. He wanted to cry. He was fixated on Daichi, and he felt miserable for it. To kill a human was one thing. It was a terrible act, but it was quick and decisive and Koushi never had to witness the collateral damage. To take a blood bag was something else, though. To take a blood bag was to slowly ruin a human's life. To take a blood bag was to fall in love with them and watch them die.

Koushi always thought to take a blood bag was inexcusable. Now he knew he had to do it.

_xxii_

After taking two days off of work and missing a bunch of class, Daichi had come to the conclusion that he needed to get his act together and start showing up, even though he was pretty sure Suga had given him the fucking plague.

He didn't have any respiratory symptoms, he just felt like he got hit by a bus, and it was starting to get old. Muscle aches. Couldn't keep anything but rice down.

All in all, he was miserable at work, but he would've been just as miserable at home, and he couldn't beg Noya to cover his morning shift alone again.

He made it through the day, and listened to Tanaka's chatter without really paying attention to it once the other had arrived to take over, until he caught, “Your hobo friend is outside again.”

Daichi stiffened. “What?” he asked.

“He's here again,” Tanaka said. “He was gone for like a week, wasn't he?” Tanaka looked at Daichi suspiciously, his eyes narrowed and his lips pressed into a thin line.

“Yeah...” Daichi muttered. Tanaka just shrugged then and finished tying his apron, then strode back into the main area of the cafe when he heard the front door jingle.

Daichi frowned. What was Suga doing here?

He put his jacket on and grabbed his stuff, and after taking a deep breath, strode back into the alley. There was Suga. He wasn't even pretending to nap, he was looking straight up at the sky, his neck craned at an uncomfortable looking angle. When Daichi shut the door behind him, Suga looked at him, and something about the movement seemed a bit too sharp, a bit too quick.

“What did you do to me?” Daichi demanded.

“We need to talk,” Suga replied, his expression serious.

“Then let’s go talk,” Daichi said, unable to help the way his whole body felt stiff in Suga's presence. He couldn't help it, it felt like his blood was running cold. He was actually terrified.

“I kind of can't leave right now,” Suga said. He lifted one of his arms, and in the dull lift of the shadowed alleyway, Daichi could see that the skin was burnt red, like a nasty sun burn, and wrinkled, as if the top layers of the epidermis had been boiled off.

Daichi descended the stairs, but pressed his back against the brick wall, keeping as much distance from Suga as he could.

“I'm not going to attack you like that again,” Suga said, and relaxed his posture. “I need to talk to you about what happened. You deserve the truth.”

“You sucked my blood after using your teeth to _rip through my skin_ ,” Daichi said, grimacing.

“Yes... Yes I did.” Suga looked almost guilty.

“Suga... what the hell happened back there?”

“There's no easy way to say this...” Suga shift uncomfortably, and then asked, “Would you sit down? You look uncomfortable.”

Sitting down wasn't going to make Daichi anymore comfortable, but he decided to oblige if it meant Suga would answer his questions. His slid down to sit on the alley floor, raised an eyebrow, and said, “Well?”

“Daichi... I'm a vampire.”

“What the fuck?”

Suga frowned, and said, “Well, doesn't it make sense...?”

“No, telling someone you're a vampire doesn't make any sense at all,” Daichi said. “Maybe Tanaka was right. Maybe you're just a crazy hobo with _really_ sharp teeth.”

Suga laughed, and that only made Daichi more uncomfortable. He moved to sit in a position where he could stand up for quickly. “Daichi, I have red eyes, I can't go in the sun, and I drank your blood.”

“That proves nothing,” Daichi denied.

“Stop being facetious,” Suga said. “Look... You're sick now, right?”

“How could you tell?” Daichi demanded.

Suga shifted and frowned. “Well, not to be overly forward, but you look like a wreck,” he said. “Have you looked at yourself lately?”

Daichi knew he was a mess, but still felt irritated to have someone else point it out. He crossed his arms and looked away, deciding not to answer out of spite.

“Please stop being so childish,” Suga admonished him, reaching out to touch him.

Daichi freaked, and scrambled away from Suga's touch. “Stop it,” he said. “How would you feel if someone beat you up, tore your throat open, left you too sick to function for four days and then tries to tell you they're a vampire? Don't treat me like I'm stupid,” Daichi said, standing up angrily.

“Daichi, I'm not lying,” Suga pled, standing up in a flash, clasping Daichi's shoulders.

Suga's eyes didn't glow, or anything strange like that. But at this proximity they were undeniably red.

“You sound like you're crazy,” Daichi pointed out.

“Have you been really tired lately?” Suga asked. “Can't keep food down?”

“Any illness can make you feel like that,” Daichi argued, trying to shake Suga's grip. Suga held tight.

“Daichi, I'm venomous,” Suga said, opening his mouth wide, revealing a pair of long, pointed fangs. “When I bit you, some of my venom got in your bloodstream.”

“You poisoned me?”

“Look, Daichi,” Suga pleaded, “I need you now. I'm... I'm addicted to you. I can't feed from anyone but you now. And I can make this work, for both of us.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Daichi demanded. He threw Suga's arms off himself, and said once more, “You're crazy!” and ran.

He had a feeling that Suga could easily catch up to him, but once he was bathed in sun as he rounded the corner, he realized that Suga had not moved from his spot. “I'll be here tomorrow,” Suga called to him.

_xxiii_

“He asked me for my number, Daichi! Daichi!” Noya was irritating in his constant pleas for attention that morning. Normally, Daichi would take the opportunity to rile up his coworker during the dull early hours before the shop opened up, but today Daichi just wasn't interested. “I mean, he hasn't actually texted me or called me yet,” Noya went on, “but I'm sure he will!”

Daichi hardly looked up from the counter he was wiping. Instead he asked, “What if you gave him your number wrong? Like you accidentally switched the digits or something?”

“No way,” Noya said, “That's why you check... Oh no we didn't check! Daichi!” Noya dropped his rag on the bar and threw himself onto one of the chairs dramatically. “I bet he texted me last night, or really a wrong number, and I never answered!”

“That would make you look like an asshole,” Daichi suggested, staring out the window onto the street. It was still mostly dark out, and the street lights lit up the dim twilight.

“He thinks I'm an asshole! Ugh!”

“Noya, go get the croissants ready,” Daichi said, turning his attention to a coffee stain on the counter that hadn't been wiped up last night, and had dried into a hard, dark crust. He wiped it away, listening to the distant sound of Noya grumbling at himself from the other room.

It was kind of funny. Noya was so confident about everything except that guy. Daichi didn't really see what the big deal about him was, himself.

Noya's problems seemed so small, Daichi thought. Daichi didn't really believe Suga was a vampire, but it did make a sick sort of sense. The red eyes, the fangs, the destroyed skin... Drinking his blood. Except for the fact that vampires were just dumb kids stories, and they weren't real.

He was starting to feel better today. He hadn't been so exhausted in the morning, and he was feeling alright now. He'd even drank a cup of coffee and kept it down. He finished wiping down the counter, and went to clean the bathroom, noting that he was feeling more agile.

When he bent down to scrub the toilet however, the pain returned. Every time he'd gotten his hopes up that maybe he'd worked whatever it was out of his system, this happened again. Daichi's knees gave and he fell down on his butt, trying to get his momentum back.

“Daichi, are you feeling okay?” Noya called from the dining room.

“Fine!” Daichi yelled back, not feeling fine at all. His stomach ached, not with nausea, but with pain, as if he'd been punched in the stomach. God, this sucked.

In a way, the idea of Koushi poisoning him made more sense than being ill. Daichi had never been sick for longer than three days before, and he didn't know how an illness could have such a quick onset, and could come back so violently after subsiding for periods.

Daichi hated the fact that the idea of a vampire homeless person poisoning him by drinking his blood was starting to make sense to him.

His stomach settled and Daichi stood back up. He did a shitty job cleaning the rest of the bathroom, but he didn't really care. It wasn't like Noya was going to care about it. He figured anyone who would actually complain about the dirty bathroom to them at seven in the morning would just have no soul at all.

Daichi checked his watch as he walked back into the main area of the cafe, and said, “I'm opening up,” to Noya.

“'Kay,” Noya called from the counter. Daichi flipped the closed sign to open, and unlocked the front door, turning back to the bar. Noya was leaning against it, resting his cheek on his fist as he scrolled through his phone with the other hand.

By some mercy, the shift passed relatively uneventfully. Noya's regular came in at his usual time, and Noya made his drink without taking his order.

It was funny to watch how much they both just lit up when they saw each other. When the tall man had walked into the cafe, they'd both smiled upon making eye contact. Noya gave his regular his drink, refused payment and a tip yet again.

As the man headed out, Noya called, “Text me!” and he laughed nervously and sputtered about having to get to work.

Daichi managed to get finely ground espresso grounds all over the white shirt he'd been wearing since he was out of clean uniform shirts, which didn’t really surprise him. He and Noya spent ten minutes trying to figure out a way to eradicate grounds before a customer walked in, and Daichi figured he had to accept his fate.

Tanaka and Ennoshita arrived to take the afternoon shift. As Daichi got into his jacket, Ennoshita asked him, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Daichi fibbed, “I'm fine. Why?”

“You just look kind of peaky,” Ennoshita replied, glancing towards Nishinoya who was noisily making his way out of the employee entrance already.

“Well, I'm fine.”

Ennoshita didn't seem convinced. “Try to get some more rest, at least,” he said authoritatively, his eyebrows knit together.

“I'll take care of myself,” Daichi said to appease him as he zipped up his jacket. “See you later, Ennoshita.”

“Bye,” the other replied, stepping into the deserted main room of the cafe.

Daichi opened the back door, and was startled to see Suga lying down where he always did. He knew he technically shouldn't be. Suga had promised to be here yesterday, hadn't he?

“Let's approach this differently,” Suga said, sitting up forgoing a greeting altogether.

“There's nothing to approach,” Daichi said, shutting the door and trying to quickly walk past Suga. Suga was too fast for him, however. He reacted quickly and stood in Daichi's way, preventing him from getting past.

“We,” Suga said, poking a finger against Daichi's sternum, “are going to talk. Got it?” He bared his teeth, and Daichi felt his blood turn cold as he couldn't help but focus on the elongated and wicked sharp looking fangs.

Feeling intimidated, Daichi conceded and said, “Fine.”

Suga's grimace changed into a cocky grin, and he said, “Good. Sit down.” He rested his hand on Daichi's shoulder and pushed. Daichi lost his composure and he let his knees buckle. He sat on the ground ungracefully. The strength Suga wielded wasn't inhuman, but it was significant and it certainly seemed out of place coming from such a waifish figure.

“You're feeling ill, and tired, right?” Suga asked him.

“Yes, so?”

“Look, let's stop with the arguing back and forth,” Suga said, “and let me get to the point. I can help with it.”

“You caused it,” Daichi said. “ _You_ got me sick. Why should you be able to help?” he sneered, and then rolled his eyes. “Are you a vampire _and_ a doctor?”

“No,” Suga replied, crossing his arms. “If I drink from you regularly, I can make the illness and the pain go away.”

“Why?” Daichi said. “No offense, but it doesn't make much sense.”

Suga rolled his eyes. “What, do you want me to be a chemist and a biologist too?” he said. “That's just how it works when we take...” he paused as if he was considering his wording, “when we take a partner,” he finally said.

“Take a partner,” Daichi said incredulously, frowning at Suga. “That's an awful nice way to describe being a parasite.”

“Well, if you want to be difficult about it,” Suga said, “We actually call you blood bags.”

“Blood bags,” Daichi repeated. The term seemed sour to him, like there was more that Suga wasn't telling him. But it also seemed fitting. “So all we're good for it blood.”

“Among other things,” Suga replied evasively, looking away.

“Just... let me go home and think this over,” Daichi finally said.

“Okay,” Suga replied, “But remember what I said when the pain comes back.”

_xxiv_

Daichi did think about it. Almost excessively. He dragged himself to his classes that night, but didn't spend any of it paying attention to the lecturer. He couldn't help but to wonder _why_ it would work that way.

If Suga feeding from him made him sick, then why would Suga continuing to feed make him not be sick? It didn't make any sense at all. It was a symbiotic relationship, Daichi was the host and Suga was the parasite, so where was the part where everything went south for Daichi?

There had to be a catch. There had to be something Suga wasn't telling him.

On his next shift when he walked out the door, there Suga stood, waiting for him. “Have you made up your mind?” Suga asked him.

“No,” Daichi replied, “I haven't. There's something you're not telling me,” he accused, squaring his shoulders and crossing his arms.

Suga sagged his own shoulders, and rolled his eyes. “Fine. Come back here at six,” he said.

“Why?” Daichi asked. “I have class.”

“That doesn't matter,” Suga replied curtly.

“It kind of matters to me,” Daichi argued, narrowing his eyes. “Why do you want me to skip?”

“There's somebody I want you to meet,” he said, “And then you can make up your mind, with the full details,” he said.

“Fine,” Daichi replied. “I'll be back, then.”

He strode past Koushi and out onto the street. He had one class that ended before six o'clock, so he went to the university and sat through his lecture. He doodled the entire time on the top corner of the paper, staring at the professor with glazed over eyes. He didn't know why he bothered. He couldn't even feign interest in Political Science at the moment.

Once his class finished he packed his stuff up and walked back to the coffee shop, dusk having just fallen. The air was cool and crisp, and when he got to the alley there Suga was. It seemed that Suga had been sleeping again, but as soon as Daichi stepped in front of him Suga woke, instantly alert and getting onto his feet.

“How was your rest?” Daichi asked, adjusting his bag.

“It was of no consequence,” Suga replied, straightening his ruffled clothes and standing up straight. He looked up at the sky, and said, “We should get going.”

Suga began to walk, and Daichi jogged a couple steps to get in tune with Suga's wide stride. “Where are we going?” Daichi asked him again.

“You're going to meet a member of my family,” Suga replied with some hesitance, his eyes looking directly ahead. “His... partner will be there as well.”

Suga only led him down a few blocks, and was resistant to Daichi's attempts at conversation. It quickly morphed into a residential area, consisting of squat little one family houses. Daichi hadn't really been in this area before. They turned into a yard at a house with a nameplate that read「日向」and walked up the path, and Suga knocked hard on the door.

He knocked so loudly and forcefully that Daichi found himself disapproving of it. It was rude. He didn't cease, either, and knocked for about a straight minute until an exhausted looking person opened the door. He still wore his pajamas and his hair was ruffled from sleep. “You're here kind of early,” the person yawned at Suga, before his tired eyes slid to Daichi. Suddenly he seemed far more alert. “Who's that?” he asked.

“This is Daichi,” Suga replied.

“Oh,” the person replied, sounding like he knew something that Daichi didn't. Daichi found himself rather disturbed that Suga had been talking about him to others, but hadn't he done the same. “Come in,” the person said after a moment, opening the door wider and stepping aside.

His eyes did not stray from Daichi's face.

Suga looked at the person, and asked him, “Is he awake?”

“Not yet,” the person replied, not looking away from Daichi as he spoke to Suga. His brown eyed stare was unsettling.

“Will you wake him and ask him to make himself presentable?” Suga asked. “Perhaps you should dress too.”

“Alright,” the person said, finally taking his eyes off Daichi. When he looked away, it felt like a weight had been lifted from Daichi's shoulders. Suga and Daichi took off their shoes, and the other person began to walk up the stairs. Daichi noticed that his gait was very slow and uneven, and he leaned against the railing as he slowly ascended the staircase. Perhaps that was why it had taken him so long to answer the door.

Suga walked into the living room, and Daichi followed his lead. “Who was that?” Daichi asked.

“That is Kageyama,” Suga replied, “He is my fledgling's blood bag,” he went on, seeming to no longer feel cautious about his word choices as they stood alone in this room with no one else to hear.

Suga sat down, and Daichi took a moment to appraise the room. It was sparse, with no better term for it. The only seating was a large couch that could probably fit three people and an arm chair. There was an old tube TV set that was covered in dust and looked like it hadn't been turned on in ages, a single remote sitting on its stand—Daichi could not see a DVD player or any games. Next to the television set was a bookcase that did seem to have a lot of use, Daichi walked over and examined it, ignoring that Suga seemed to be watching him with some amusement. The books on the shelves were a little strange. Most of them seemed to be biographies or books about biology. Many of them seemed to have post it notes stuck inside. The notes that stuck out of the pages were written on, but the pencil marks were too small and too light for Daichi to be able to make them out himself.

The room was depressingly bare, Daichi realized. Nothing hung on the walls. The curtains on the windows were a thick gray so that no light could shine through. There were no rugs on the hardwood floor, and the bookcase, TV stand, and a small end table with a lamp bared no knick knacks. The room, and perhaps the whole house by extension, seemed empty.

Daichi looked at Suga sitting on the couch, and he nervously crossed the room to sit in the arm chair in the corner. “Could I hang my jacket?” He asked nervously once he'd sat down, suddenly feeling uncomfortably warm.

“There is a coat rack by the front door,” Suga replied, and Daichi got up and hurriedly unzipped his jacket, shrugging it off his shoulders and hanging it on the rack. There were only two other jackets on there. By the door were four pairs of shoes—his and Suga's, and two pairs that must have belonged to the house's two occupants.

Daichi sat down again in the arm chair, and then got up again and awkwardly dragged it closer to the couch. They heard a door close upstairs, and a voice said, “Come on, Tobio, you're so slow!” the person seemed irritated, but in a way that was perhaps playful and harmless.

A pair of footsteps quickly thundered down the steps as if they were hurtling down two at a time, and Daichi turned his head to see a short person, a boy really, enter the room with an aura of excitement as he approached Daichi.

Under the fluorescent lighting, his eyes were clearly a bright red.

“Hi,” he greeted warmly, “I'm Hinata.”

“He's my fledgling,” Suga replied. The other vampire didn't get too close to him.

“I'm Daichi,” Daichi said, for lack of any other words.

“I know,” Hianta replied in a strange tone, and then he walked away and sat on the couch with Suga.

“So you... created him?” Daichi clarified. He heard the creak of another pair of feet slowly coming down the stairs.

“No, I didn't,” Suga replied. “I found him alone and recently changed, so I took him in and raised him.”

“Suga kept me alive,” Hinata said fondly, leaning against the taller vampire easily. Daichi felt enormously out of place.

Kageyama reached the bottom of the stairs and kept a hand on the wall as he maneuvered himself to sit on the couch. He seemed almost winded from the effort, and Daichi felt disturbed by the lack of health displayed by the other.

“So this is what you do, then?” Daichi asked. “You take one human and you feed off them? Until what? People don't live forever.”

“We usually don't,” Hinata said. “Most of the others of our kind do, but Suga and I have long tried to abstain from having blood bags... but it seems that fate does not agree.”

“Fate,” Daichi said incredulously. He had a hard time believing any of this was happening, and the fact that he was being harped to about fate made him feel even more disbelief.

“Hinata had an accident,” Suga said, jerking his head in the direction of Kageyama. “I... I was drawn to you,” he said, and then smiled. “Then _I_ had an accident.”

“I'm sorry,” Daichi said, “But you're really not doing a good job of convincing me on anything. It almost feels like you're not even trying.”

“What they're saying is true,” Kageyama interrupted, his eyes not falling from Daichi's. He jerked his head to the side and pulled on his shirt, revealing many punctures that looked rather like the ones that had been on his neck that Daichi had refused to think about. Daichi's had healed up quickly, while these ones seemed like they'd closed and been reopened several times. “They're both vampires. Hinata lives off of me.”

“Look, Daichi,” Hinata said, “Suga's an idiot, and he won't spit it out to you himself. But at the point you're at, there's nothing you two can do but help each other. If Suga feeds from you, he can make that pain from the venom go away.”

“What's the point of the venom, anyways?”

“It's supposed to slow you down,” Suga replied, “So you can't get away once we've bitten you. It lingers in the body, and if you were a human hundreds of years ago who had to flee on foot... You wouldn't make it very far.”

“So why does feeding more make it stop?”

“You build a tolerance,” Kageyama chimed in. “It stops hurting after a few more doses.”

Daichi had a very hard time believing that Kageyama could ever flee from Hinata. But was his weakness Hinata's work, or was Kageyama naturally unhealthy? Was it only an effect of the venom, or was Hinata doing something else that made him so weak?

“... I see,” Daichi replied.

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The other three moved very little at all, and it was little unnerving. He realized he'd yet to see Hinata blink.

He asked, “So I need Suga. Why does he need me?”

“If I feed from someone and don't... kill them, I develop a dependency,” Suga said, wincing. “So right now, the only blood that appeals to me is... yours,” his gaze drifted from Daichi's eyes down to his neck, and Daichi froze up.

“Listen,” Hinata said, grabbing Suga's attention. The other vampire leaned forward, resting his arms on his knees. “We want to come up with an agreement. We'll make it easy as possible. So why don't you think about it?”

“I will,” Daichi said nervously, and stood.

He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something that he wasn't getting told.

_xxv_

As soon as Daichi was out the door, Kageyama turned to Hinata and asked, “Why are you telling him everything?”

“Because I need him more than he needs me,” Koushi said, walking into the kitchen and settling onto one of the wooden chairs with a brooding look.

“What do you mean?” The human asked, following Koushi into the kitchen and slowly sitting down. His eyes were inquisitive, and he seemed more engaged than usual.

“Daichi got way less venom than you did the first feeding,” said Hinata. He walked over to the sink and filled a glass with water.

“I think in a week he'll filter it completely out of his system,” Koushi said. “Then he can completely refuse me. And I'll continue to suffer.”

“So just kidnap him,” Kageyama suggested. Hinata gave him the glass of water, and he took a small sip, bowing his head to thank Hinata.

“People might connect that with me,” Koushi said. “The coffee shop people know my face,” he went on dismissively, looking away.

“There's more to it, isn't there?” Hinata asked.

“Is it so bad I want his consent?” Koushi said.

“It's not consent if he doesn't know everything that's going to happen to him,” Kageyama muttered angrily.

“Well, uh, speaking of what's going to happen to him...” Hinata said awkwardly and trailed off, taking a seat at the table.

“What is it, Hinata?” Koushi asked, eager to steer the topic away from himself.

“I think Tobio is past the point of no return,” Hinata said, “You will die now. There is no recovery for you,” he said to him.

Kageyama sagged against the wooden back of the chair, his eyes fluttering shut. “I knew this would happen,” he breathed out.

“Of course you did,” Hinata replied.

“It didn't feel real though,” Kageyama said, taking a deep breath. He opened his eyes again and stared at his lap.

Koushi kept quiet, feeling like an intruder in the moment.

“Tobio, I want to change you,” Hinata said. “I want to live with you forever. I want to be with you. But I won't do it unless you say yes.” The vampire fidgeted a little and looked to the side with embarrassment, and Koushi couldn't help but to feel a little amused by Hinata's obvious affection.

“Hinata would take good care of you,” Koushi advocated. “I have raised him well.”

Hinata always thrived with praise. He perked up a little and smiled at Kageyama, and asked, “Will you say yes Tobio?”

“No,” Kageyama said, looking up and meeting Hinata's eyes, stoney faced. “I will not say yes.”

“Why?” Koushi asked.

Hinata crumpled, biting his lips and letting his shoulders fall.

“It's not that I don't care for you,” Kageyama said carefully, “But I hate what you are.”

“What do you mean?” Hinata questioned, his voice unsteady and cracking.

“Vampirism disgusts me,” he said. “I'd rather die than become one of you,” he bit out to them both, his eyes sliding between Koushi and Hinata.

“Tobio,” Hinata pleaded, but the human got up and hobbled away as quick as he could and up the stairs.

Koushi got up and placed his hand on his fledgling's shoulder. Hinata surged up out of the chair and wrapped his arms around Koushi's back, burying his face in Koushi's chest, his body beginning to shake with tears. “I don't know if I can do this...” he sobbed.

Koushi wrapped his fingers in Hinata's hair, massaging his scalp as he felt his tears wet his shirt. “He will be in much pain in some weeks time,” he whispered. “I saw Oikawa do it when I was a fledgling... he will slowly waste away.”

Hinata grumbled, “Do you mean to comfort me? It's not working at all.” His fingers dug into Koushi's back.

“It is not a pittance,” Koushi replied, “It is a plea.”

“I don't understand,” Hinata said, looking up at him, his eyes ruddy and bloodshot from tears.

“I am asking that you do not let him die like that,” Koushi said, “When he is so lost in a world of pain that he can no longer move or think or speak, that he rejects all food and slowly starves to death, already lost to you.”

“Then, what do you want me to do?” Hinata asked, letting go of the older vampire and glaring at him.

“Take pity on him,” Koushi begged, “Kill him before he is completely lost to pain. Let him die peacefully.”

“How long?” Hinata asked, his voice cracking as he let out another sob. “How much longer do you think he can make it?” He rubbed away his tears.

“A month or two maybe?” Koushi estimated. “I cannot be sure,” he said, “I think perhaps you would know best, in the end,” he went on, and laid his hand back on Hinata's shoulder.

Hinata glared and shrugged off Koushi's hand. “I wish I'd killed him before I ever cared,” he muttered.

“If you care, you will kill him,” Koushi said.

Hinata hesitated, and then he finally said, “I'll do it.”

END OF ACT ONE

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Perhaps a more succinct summary of this chapter would read:  
> Suga: im a vampire  
> Daichi: no ur fuckin not
> 
> Chapter Six, Tied to You, will be published on March 27th.
> 
> Preview will be available next Sunday.


	6. Tied to You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daichi and Koushi hammer out the terms of their relationship. Daichi spends some time alone with Kageyama.

ACT TWO

_ i _

Koushi stirred from his rest when he heard the racket of someone opening the screen of the back door of the coffee shop. He looked at the door through his lashes, and saw who came out. They were not Daichi. It was his shorter colleague with the ridiculous hair, who shut the door loudly behind himself and skirted around Koushi like the rest of the coffee shop people did, making an effort not to disturb him.

Koushi closed his eyes again, until he heard the door creak again. This time it was Daichi. Koushi rolled his shoulders back and blinked wearily at Daichi, making an effort to look as if he'd only just awakened. “Hello,” he greeted amicably.

“I thought about what you guys were saying last night,” Daichi admitted to him, forgoing a greeting.

“And?” Koushi inquired, straightening his neck and getting to his feet, as Daichi did not seem to find it fitting to sit with him.

“I want to make terms to it with you,” Daichi said, his eyes flickering from Koushi's face to his shoes and back again. “We can make a deal.”

“Then what deal are you thinking?” Koushi asked.

“I don't want to work it out here,” Daichi admitted. “I have to go to class. Could I have your cell?”

“My cell?” Koushi repeated, turning the word over in his mouth. He wasn't sure what Daichi meant, exactly. He was offended by the insinuation he’d gone to prison.

“You know,” Daichi said, “Your phone number.”

“Oh,” Koushi realized. “I don't have a phone number,” he said.

“You don't have a cell phone?” Daichi replied disbelievingly.

“I don't have any use for it,” Koushi said. “I'm almost always alone. There's no purpose.” 

“Oh... um, okay.”

“Why don't we meet after your class?” Koushi asked. “I'll be here. I'll take you out for dinner.”

“Okay,” Daichi said awkwardly, and adjusted his things. “I'll be back here, then.”

“See you then,” Koushi told him, and watched the human hurry away. He leaned against the brick wall and glared at the sky, willing the sun to set sooner. He couldn't take Daichi out to dinner looking like this, he did have  _ some  _ dignity.

Waiting for time to pass was always boring, but today it was especially so. By five o'clock though, it was dark enough for Suga to leave the alleyway and head out. He knew there was a small bridal boutique a few blocks away, so he beelined there.

As soon as he got to the shop, he was a little disoriented by it. The whole shop was light, and very brightly lit. He ducked his head to put his eyes under the shadow of his brow, so the scarlet wouldn’t seem so stark under the fluorescent lighting.

“Hello,” a shop attendant greeted him, looking up from where she sat by the register.

“Hi,” Koushi told her. “I'm looking to buy a suit. Nothing too fancy.”

“Alright,” the attendant said, standing up, and then told him, “I'll need to measure you,” she told him, and grabbed some measuring tape from behind the desk. “Come stand over here,” she said, leading him to a spot on the floor in front of a three way mirror.

He took off his jacket and threw it on a chair, and the attendant wrinkled her nose as she stepped close to him. Did he smell? He didn't sweat, but he supposed grime could slowly build up...

The girl measured his shoulders, his waist, his hips, and his inseam, calling out the centimeters as she went to remind herself. Then she said, “I assume you'll want something black?”

“Yes,” Koushi said. What else did she think he would get, powder blue?

“Okay,” the girl said. “Hold on, I'll grab you a few things. Do you need a dress shirt as well?” she asked.

“Yes, Koushi said. “I do.”

“Alright,” she said.

She went into a back room and Koushi waited patiently until she came back out with a pile of clothes. “One of these should fit you,” she told him, handing him two white shirts. Then she gave him two pairs of slacks, and two suit jackets. Koushi took them from her and stepped into the fitting room.

The first shirt was too small, and the first pants were far too large. The next shirt fit correctly, and the second pair of pants was just a little large. The first jacket fit perfectly. Once he was all dressed, he stepped out and looked at himself in the mirror. The attendant stood there, holding an evergreen green tie. “I think this would go well with your hair,” she said weakly.

“I agree,” Koushi said, taking it from her and quickly putting it on. He looked at himself in the mirror, and said, “Hmm.”

“We can alter the slacks to fit you better,” the attendant said.

“No,” Koushi replied. “I'll buy it.”

“Huh?”

“I'd like to buy it right now,” he said.

“Oh, um, okay,” the attendant said. “Would you like to buy a pair of dress shoes too?”

Koushi thought about his dirty sneakers sitting in the changing room. “I’ll be fine,” he decided.

Koushi ducked back into the cubicle to change into his daily clothes. Once he got out, he hand the suit to the attendant, and she wrapped it up in the garment bag and rang him up. Koushi's eye twitched a little when he saw the total, but he just took out his wallet and handed her enough bills and coins to cover it.

The attendant looked a little perplexed. She counted the cash a couple times to make sure Koushi had the right amount (he did) and put it all in the cash register.

“Thank you for coming in,” she said meekly.

“Thank you,” Koushi replied, and swung the garment bag over his shoulder (the attendant winced) and let himself out the door.

Looking down at his feet, Koushi realized he only had the sneakers. They did look pretty bad. Whatever.

He walked over to Hinata's, and knocked on the door. Kageyama answered. “Come in,” he said brusquely, stepping aside to let Koushi over the threshold. “What d'ya have there?” he asked.

“I've got a date,” Koushi replied. “I'm going to use your shower.”

“Holy shit,” Kageyama said, “You're taking a shower? I'll have to write that down. On March 15 th , Suga took a shower.”

Koushi was a little amused that that was the part Kageyama was astounded by, but also a little disgusted with himself. He decided to get over it, and kicked off his shoes and stalked up the stairs. From Hinata's door he could still hear Hinata's slow, heavy breath, and figured his fledgling must not have woken yet.

He let himself into the bathroom, and hung the garment bag on a hook on the door. He'd used this bathroom before, of course, but not really taken much of a look at the shower. It was a simple shower stall, with a couple of built in shelves. He carefully turned the water on, not too hot. He figured he was pretty cool right now since he was so thirsty, and he knew he wouldn't like the feeling of scalding water when his body was probably chilled to room temperature.

He peeled off his clothes and folded them, setting them on the toilet. He felt the water, and determined that it was a decent temperature, and climbed in and shut the clear plastic door behind himself.

He started by leaning his head bag and getting all of his hair wet, and then looked at the different bottles. Hinata and Kageyama each had their own shampoo and conditioner, but there was only one bottle of body wash. Suga took a moment to look at the shampoo bottles first. He couldn't find any discernible difference between the two of them. One claimed to “repair damaged hair” and the other claimed to “nourish hair”. He wasn't exactly sure what either meant, but they both sounded good, so he squeezed a little of both into his hand and lathered it into his hair.

He built up some suds and then rinsed it out, and then took a moment to look at the conditioner. He came to the same predicament, and then to the same solution. One of the conditioners was brown, and the other was light blue. They became a very strange color when he mixed them together.

He lathered the conditioner in, and then grabbed a loofah and scrubbed his body while he waited for the conditioner to sink into his hair a little. It'd been a long time since Koushi showered, and he found that he really did quite enjoy it. He scrubbed his body until it turned pink in some spots, and then he rinsed off and washed the conditioner out of his hair.

He took a moment to look at all the bottles again, and decided to investigate further. He picked up the first body wash, and read that the name was “Happy Go Lather”. He took a sniff, and recoiled. He picked up the other one, which was the same bottle, but a different color. This one was “Hello Hydration”. He did not like it any better. He turned off the water, and stepped out of the shower.

He dried off a little, and stared at himself in the mirror.

He could totally do this.

_ ii _

After Daichi finished class, he went back to his place before he went to the cafe to meet Suga for dinner. The way that Suga had talked about it, it sounded like he was really taking Daichi out to a restaurant, and maybe a nice one, so Daichi felt like he had to look good.

He dug through his closet looking for clothes that were actually nice. He suddenly felt like he didn't own any.

He ended up putting on a navy pair of slacks, because apparently he didn't own any black ones. They he put on a white button up and hoped he didn't look too weird. He washed his face and combed his hair, then decided to brush his teeth for good measure.

After that, there was no more stalling. He had to go meet Suga. He slipped on his shoes and left his apartment, locking the door behind him and walking quickly towards the coffee shop. He was glad that he lived close by.

When he got to the back entrance, there stood Suga, as promised. Except he wasn't wearing his usual ratty clothes, he was wearing a suit. Daichi actually stopped short a second. There wasn't much light so he couldn't see Suga very well, but the figure he hid under baggy clothing was suddenly sharp and defined.

“Hi,” Suga greeted, stepping over towards him.

Daichi was pretty sure his brain shorted out. He said, “Your hair looks soft,” because it did. It looked soft and pretty.

Suga smiled, and said, “You look nice yourself.”

Daichi shook himself out of whatever dumb daze had fallen over him, and he asked, “So where are we going?”

“We're going to go to a steakhouse,” Suga replied. “We should probably walk over. I made reservations rather last minute, it wouldn't be good to miss them,” he said, grabbing Daichi's hand and tugging as he walked towards the main street.

Daichi startled at the contact and scrambled to catch up. “Do vampires eat food?” he asked.

“No,” Suga replied, “We don't. It makes us throw up.”

“Oh,” Daichi replied. “So what were you doing with all those pastries I gave you?” he asked.

“I gave them to Kageyama,” Suga said, “I'm pretty sure they're the only reason he started speaking with me civilly. So that's kind of your doing. Thanks.”

“Oh,” Daichi said awkwardly, “You're welcome I guess.” He dug his hands in his pockets as he walked, trying to keep up with Suga's fast pace. He felt distinctly out of place next to Suga, who seemed dressed to the nines and now that he was cleaned up and groomed, was  _ super _ hot. So Daichi wasn't sure what to do with that. He decided to put it away, and ask, “Do you drink anything?”

“Blood,” Suga replied, looking at Daichi like he was an idiot.

“I mean besides blood,” Daichi said, feeling exasperated and a little foolish.

“I drink water sometimes,” Suga conceded, “It is quite relaxing, I think.”

“Do vampires use the bathroom?” Daichi asked next.

Suga sighed. “Yes, we do. All creatures produce waste.”

“Oh,” Daichi said. “I was just wondering, since you're not really alive. How do you stay alive immortally, anyways?”

“I'm not a biologist,” Suga groaned, “I don't know all these things. I only know what I've experienced.”

“Oh,” Daichi replied. Suga stopped then, and gestured at the door to a restaurant a few feet up.

“We're here,” he said. They stepped in together, and walked up to the hostess's stand. “Reservation for Sugawara,” Suga said.

The hostess looked at her book, and then said, “Of course, if you'll come with me.” She grabbed some menus and began to walk towards the back of the restaurant, ushering them into a secluded booth. Daichi slid onto the seat that was covered with squeaky plastic. Suga ordered flat water for them, and then opened his menu.

Feeling awkward, Daichi followed his lead and looked over the menu. Suga had brought him to a steakhouse, so of course those were the main items on the menu. He scanned over them quickly, his stomach dropping as he looked at the prices.

“Order whatever you like,” Suga said from behind his menu.

“You don't have a phone but you can afford this?” Daichi asked him, looking over the edge of the menu to stare at Suga quizzically. “Where do you get the money?”

“Take a wild guess,” Suga replied mildly, setting down his own menu and raising an eyebrow.

Right. If Suga had no real qualms stealing blood, Daichi ought to assume he didn't have an issue with something as irrelevant as cash.

A waiter came over holding a bottle of water, which he cracked open and then poured a meager amount into their two glasses. “Are you ready to order, gentlemen?” he asked.

Suga looked at Daichi. “We are,” Daichi said.

“Alright,” the waiter replied, digging a little book out of his apron and clicking a pen that he retrieved from behind his ear. “For you, sir?” he asked.

“Um, I'd like the salmon,” Daichi said awkwardly.

“And you, sir?” the waiter then asked, turning to Suga.

“Your caesar salad, please.”

“Entr é e?” the waiter asked.

“Just the salad, please,” Suga replied.

“Certainly,” the waiter said, scribbling in his book. “I'll put your orders in,” he said, grabbed their menus, and then walked away, leaving them.

Suga sipped his water, his gaze unwavering.

“I want us to get comfortable with each other,” Suga said mildly. “Then work out terms to this.”

“I don't see what we have to work out,” Daichi said. “You suck my blood. I stop being in pain constantly.”

“Wouldn't you think it'd be better to be on the same page?” Suga said. “Where, when, how frequent...” he trailed off. “I've never done this before,” he admitted, seeming sheepish. “I think there are others who would mock me for being so considerate.”

Hmm. Attacking him in an alley and forcing him into this deal. Quite considerate.

“Well, how much do you need?” Daichi said.

Suga seemed thoughtful. “Hinata takes from Kageyama three times a week,” he said, “But I've never needed as much as he does.”

“Why?” Daichi asked. “You're bigger than him.”

“Allow me to rephrase that, then,” Suga said, “I'm better at being hungry than Hinata is.”

“Oh,” Daichi said.

“I think I'd be okay twice a week,” Suga finally said, tapping the table.

“How old are you anyways?” Daichi asked.

“That's something not even Hinata knows,” Suga said, smiling a crooked smile.

“That's no fair,” Daichi replied. “How old could you be anyway, like seventy?”

“Older than that,” Suga conceded.

“How old were you when you died, then?” Daichi asked.

“Twenty one,” Suga said. “An adult, at least.”

“At least?” Daichi asked for clarification.

“We don't know for sure, but I think Hinata was a young teenager when he died,” Suga replied, and then rolled his eyes, “He certainly acts like one sometimes.”

Daichi looked at his lap. Suga looked at Daichi. Then, Suga asked, “How about this: enough about me, tell me more about you. What are you majoring in again?”

“Computer science,” Daichi replied. “I code and stuff.”

Suga just looked kind of confused.

“You're not very tech savvy, are you?” Daichi asked.

“I'm afraid not,” Suga replied, “I don't have much use for the stuff myself. How old are you, Daichi?” he asked.

“I'm twenty,” Daichi replied. “I'm a second year at my university.”

Suga smiled. “I went to university once,” he said, “I got a degree in English. I think Hinata has it somewhere. I certainly don't keep it.”

“When'd you get that?”

“A while ago,” Suga smiled, “I didn't use a typewriter to write my essays,” he hinted.

“Geez,” Daichi said, then leaned back. “So. English, Japanese. What else do you speak?” he asked.

“Chinese and Korean,” Suga said, “I tend to stay in East Asia or North America. Europe doesn't hold much appeal to me personally,” he said, and wrinkled his nose, “there's too many old clans and stupid revolutionaries out there.”

Daichi didn’t think that Suga was talking about human kings or human revolutions. Then, Daichi caught sight of their waiter carrying two plates towards them. They both fell silent as the waiter approached.

“Caesar salad,” the waiter said, setting Suga's plated in front of him. “Seared salmon,” he said next, setting down Daichi's plate. “Enjoy your dinner. Please let me know if you need anything,” and then he hurried away.

Daichi took a moment to look at the well prepared fish, and then appraised the other contents of the plate. There was a strange green sauce in a tiny bowl. He had some delicate looking green vegetables, and a cauliflower risotto. Daichi dipped his fork in the green sauce and found it to be strangely rich, but also had a bite to it. He wasn't sure if he liked it.

He glanced up and realized Suga was watching him fuss over his food, and felt embarrassed.

Suga said, “You're fascinating,” and then turned his lettuce over with his fork and smashed it down.

“Shut up,” Daichi said, and decided not to pour the sauce on his salmon, and cut up a piece and ate it quickly. It was delicious.

Suga took a sip of his water. Then, he said, “So we worked out one part of the deal,” he went on, “how often. Twice a week. Now we need to decide when, and where.”

“How do I know you won't sneak more?” Daichi said.

“What do you mean?”

“How do I know you won't sneak more blood when I'm asleep or something?”

“I can assure that it would wake you up if I did,” Suga replied. “Besides, if you're at home, I can't get in.”

“I don't understand.”

“I can only enter the house when you invite me in,” Suga replied. “It's a vampire thing. I'm not sure why,” he said. “But if I'm not there when you fall asleep, there will definitely be no drinking. Not that I would drink from you when you're unconscious anyways.”

Daichi suddenly felt a little silly for how frantically he'd locked all the windows that first day Suga had bitten him.

“I think... I think I'd rather not have you in my house,” Daichi said.

“That's fine,” Suga replied.

“Where will we do it then?” Daichi said, wondering how this might sound to an onlooker. “Not the alley,” he said.

“Hinata's house,” Suga replied. “We just can't stay there during the daylight. Kageyama gets twitchy about it,” he said.

“Okay,” Daichi agreed.

“Now, when?” Suga asked.

“Could we do it the nights before my days off?” Daichi said. “I have Thursday and Sunday off. So Wednesday and Saturday,” he said.

“I could make that work,” Suga replied. “But... Tonight's a Wednesday.”

“And you're thirsty, aren't you?” Daichi said.

Suga looked at his lap. “Yes,” he replied.

“After dinner,” Daichi sighed, a pit of uneasiness roiling in his stomach.

_ iii _

Daichi felt nervous for just about the rest of the meal. The pain he'd felt the first time Suga had bitten him was debilitating, and the memory hadn't softened at all in time. Daichi thought that memory would stand out as one of the worst moments of his life for as long as he may live.

He didn't finish his food, feeling too nervous to eat much more. Suga had pushed his food around artfully, making it look like he'd eaten when he'd barely touched anything.

Once they finished eating and Suga paid the bill, Daichi put his jacket back on and he headed towards Hinata's. Suga seemed to sense that something was wrong in Daichi's mood. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“It hurt a lot last time,” Daichi said, “Forgive me for not exactly being excited.”

“Oh,” Suga said, and then a realization seemed to cross his mind. “ _ Oh _ ,” he said.

“What?” Daichi asked.

“We have this thing called a glamour,” Suga said. “I'm not really sure how it works, exactly,” he admitted, “But I can manipulate how it feels,” he said. “But I have to be conscious of doing it. I didn't exactly... bother last time. I was frenzied,” he said.

“So what happens if you use this glamour?” Daichi asked.

“Well,” Suga said, “If I cast my glamour, it has degrees,” he said. “I can disguise it as pleasure, or I can just take the pain away.”

“So you can control it?”

“Usually I just do it all the way,” Suga said, “So people have no idea what's really happening... But when I was human he just took the pain away. I'm pretty sure I liked it,” he said.

Daichi didn't take a minute to think about who “ _ he _ ” was. Instead, he thought about the glamour thing some more. To have all the pain disguised as pleasure did seem tempting, but Suga had mentioned that his victims had no idea what was happening... it didn't seem appealing.

“What do you mean about having no idea?” he asked.

“Well, I'm a little fuzzy on it myself, but they seem to be completely unaware of what I'm doing,” he said, “At least from my perspective.”

“Yeah, don't do that,” Daichi said. “Just take away the pain.”

“Alright,” Suga said as they turned onto Hinata's street. Hinata's house was only a few doors down, so Suga walked up the path and knocked quickly on the door.

Hinata opened up, and raised an eyebrow. “So you got it all worked out then?” he asked.

“Yes,” Suga told him.

“Alright, come in,” Hinata replied, and Suga stepped over the stoop and Daichi followed, both of them kicking their shoes off. “Go on upstairs,” Hinata told Suga. “But stay out of my room. Do it on the couch. I'll tell Tobio not to go up.”

“Where is he?” Suga asked, looking around.

“He's in the living room,” Hinata said.

“I see,” Suga said.

“Go on,” Hinata told him, urging him towards the stairs.

“Alright,” Suga said, rolling his eyes at the older vampire. “Come on, Daichi,” he said.

Daichi followed Suga up the staircase, and took a moment to look around. There was a door on the left that must've led to a bedroom, and to the right was a small open space. There was another tiny room that had to be a bathroom against one wall, with a desk and a dilapidated looking computer jammed next to it. There was also a large, plush looking couch.

“Go on,” Suga said, “Lie down.”

Feeling awkward and clinical, Daichi laid down on the couch, feeling his body sink into the soft cushions. It was a wide couch, but there still wasn't much room. He rested his head on the arm of the couch, and Suga looked at him.

“Well?” Daichi said.

“Forgive me,” Suga said, “But I'm not that used to this.”

“How do you usually do it?” Daichi asked, as Suga got onto the couch and straddled his hips, both of them feeling awkward. Suga balanced himself with a hand on the back of the couch.

“I pick up a drunk person,” Suga said, “and convince them I'm taking them home. Once we're in a quiet area, I get them into an alley, trap them against the wall and cast my glamour.” The part were Suga drank them dry and left their corpse behind there was unspoken, but Daichi knew.

“I'm going to cast my glamour,” Suga told him, “But it might take me a moment to get it right.”

He bent over Daichi and began to massage the side of his neck. Daichi wasn't sure exactly what he was doing, but he accepted it, and instead he asked, “Can vampires get drunk?”

“I've never actually tried drinking alcohol,” he said. “Someone tried to impress me by drinking wine once. I didn't touch it myself, but I caught them throwing up after,” he said, “So I have no interested in imbibing, myself.”

“Oh,” Daichi said.

“If I drink from a drunk person, it affects me a little,” Suga admitted. “But barely.”

“So if I get wasted, I can get you drunk?” Daichi asked.

Suga pinched the side of his neck, and Daichi winced. Suga made an irritated face, and then wrinkled his nose and told Daichi, “I think you'd have to drink enough to kill yourself twice to get me past tipsy,” he rubbed the side of Daichi's neck again, and asked, “Why?”

“I just thought it'd be kind of funny,” he replied. “You seem so serious.”

“I'm not  _ always  _ serious,” Suga pouted, and then pinched Daichi's neck again. Daichi registered that it'd happened, but it didn't hurt, it just felt like a press. “That's the ticket,” Suga said, noting Daichi's lack of a reaction.

Daichi braced himself as Suga repositioned his body to lean comfortably over Daichi's neck. He pressed his lips against the spot, and whispered onto Daichi's skin, “You'll be fine.”

Daichi couldn't help but to clench his fists anyways.

Suga licked Daichi's neck, and then he bit. His fangs slid through Daichi's skin like butter, but there was no pain. It was just about the weirdest thing Daichi had ever felt in his life, almost like release of built up tension. He registered that Suga's teeth were cold, and began to feel a steady pull.

Suga's weight on him was solid and almost comforting, but his body wasn't warm. It wasn't cold either, but it was cool, perhaps just about the temperature of the room itself, which Daichi thought was strange.

He wrapped his arms around Suga's back to pull the vampire closer. Suga himself gripped Daichi's body tighter, molding himself to Daichi instead of just hovering on top of him. The pull seemed to pick up in strength. Daichi could feel a few stray drops of blood slide wetly down the side of his neck.

One of Suga's hands gripped Daichi's shoulder, but he wandered the other one up to caress Daichi's cheek, his thumb pressing on Daichi's jaw bone. Daichi opened his eyes and looked down at him, and caught the vampire looking right back. Suga's eyes quickly darted away and then closed. In the dimly lit room, it was easy to mistake Suga's eyes as brown. But for once, the knowledge that they were red didn't make Daichi feel frightened.

The pull gradually decreased until Suga let up entirely, and pulled his teeth out. Daichi stirred a little from the lull he'd fallen into as Suga licked up the stray blood, then ran his tongue over the now pristine cuts, and pulled away, scooting up Daichi's body and pulling away, his arms resting on the arm of the couch as he hovered over Daichi.

Suga was warm now, and Daichi realized there was more color in his skin. Daichi hesitantly moved a hand up to press against Suga's heart, and felt it's steady beat against his palm, pumping his stolen blood.

“You're pale,” Suga said, sounding unhappy. “I didn't want to take that much.”

“It's okay,” Daichi said softly. “I didn't really notice.”

“Hmm,” Suga said, but didn't say anymore. The vampire let himself down, lying on Daichi's body as comfortably as they could on the cramped space. Daichi imagined Suga must be listening to his heart beat.

[ _collab with sad--luck. please reblog the art on[tumblr](http://sad--luck.tumblr.com/post/141813300906/art-collab-with-kenmakzoume-for-chapter-6-of-the)_.]

Daichi felt  _ exhausted _ he realized. He didn't feel strictly bad, but it was like the feeling he got at the end of a long day. He could fall asleep right here, he realized. But he fought to keep consciousness.

The intimacy of the moment was strange. Suga seemed content to lie there and not say anything to him, and Daichi liked the contact. But he wasn't really sure if he liked Suga, and he wasn’t really sure about whatever it was Suga thought of him.

They laid there a few minutes more, before Daichi shifted.

Suga got up to let him off the couch, and Daichi stretched and move his arms around as if he'd just woken from sleep. Suga watched him carefully, and then said, “I'll see you on Saturday.”

“See you then,” Daichi said awkwardly, and headed towards the stairs. He felt unsettled when Suga didn't follow him down. The lights were darkened downstairs, and Daichi could hear something quietly being played on the TV. He heard soft voices from the living room as well, but neither Hinata or Kageyama came to wish him farewell.

He slipped his shoes back on his feet and let himself out, and walked home in the darkness.

_ iv _

Koushi sat down on the couch and put his head against his knees. On the surface, he felt full, happy, and satisfied. Cuddling with Daichi had been awkward, but it'd been nice. Even warmed by Daichi's blood, Daichi had felt like a furnace with his body pressed against Koushi's and it had felt delightful.

He heard the front door open and close. Some sort of tension that he'd held in his body dissipated, the pent up emotion easing out of him and leaving a shell behind.

What the fuck was he doing? It felt like the millionth time he asked himself today. It hadn't seemed entirely real until he'd been on top of Daichi with his fangs lodged in his neck that he realized he was doing this. He was violating all of the principles he held dear, that made him who he was. He was doing what he'd defined his immortal existence as a rebellion against.

He knew what it was like. He'd been a blood bag. He'd attacked his own creator and forced his own change out of spite for what had been done to him. There was no hiding behind cheerful euphemisms of consent and gentle touches and dinners paid for. He'd as good as killed Daichi, and he was too afraid to tell him.

He heard Hinata climb the stairs, and as the younger vampire turned the corner to see him, he looked concerned. He flipped on the lights in the small room, and sat on the couch besides Koushi. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“That's a thick question, Hinata,” Koushi said, rolling his eyes.

“Kill me for being considerate,” Hinata said, scrutinizing Koushi.

Koushi relaxed from his hunched position, and let out a deep breath. “I'm going against every standard I hold myself up to,” he said. “I've fucked up so bad.”

“It feels more real now, doesn't it?” Hinata asked.

“Rock solid reality,” Koushi agreed. “What am I doing?” he wondered aloud. “I've good as ruined his life.”

“It's what we're meant to do,” Hinata said. “It's no good, but can you look at us and not think it’s our nature?”

“He's  _ smart _ , Hinata,” Koushi said. “He's young, smart, cute and kind. He deserves a normal life. I've gone and doomed him to death or to live like us.”

“When are you going to tell him that?” Hinata asked him.

“I don't know,” Koushi groaned, throwing his head back against the cushion. “How can you even tell someone something like that? How did you tell Tobio?” he asked.

“My jumping in horror when he woke up and yelling, 'you're supposed to be dead!' kind of let the cat out of the bag,” Hinata said.

“I don't think that tactic will work for me,” Suga groaned.

“I wouldn't recommend it,” Hinata replied.

Suga groaned, and buried his hands in his hair. “What the hell am I doing?” he said.

“I don't know,” Hinata said, “But I don't really miss when life was boring,” he looked away.

“What do you mean?”

“It is kind of nice?” Hinata said, “I mean, just the intimacy of it, I guess? All these years and I've never had anyone that's cared about me like he has, but...”

“The days are limited,” Suga filled in for him.

_ v _

Suga's feeding became rather clinical after that first, awkward time. Daichi would just go to Hinata's house at eight o'clock and meet Suga there. They would go upstairs and sit on the couch, but Daichi didn't lie down now. He sat on the vampire's lap and Suga would cast his glamour, and then Suga fed.

Once he was done Daichi would get up and leave. They did this for two weeks.

Daichi kind of missed that first time when Suga had touched him and cuddled with him. He kind of wished Suga would offer to walk him home.

When he fed, Suga would hold the back of Daichi's head and press his other hand on Daichi's back to keep him in the best position. Daichi would rest his head against the cushion of the couch and wonder when it would be over. He wondered if Suga would get offended if he checked his phone.

That first time, Suga had caressed his cheek and looked into his eyes. Now it seemed like Suga was trying to ignore him as much as was physically possible throughout the whole song and dance.

Daichi didn't really know what to make of it. He knew Suga regretted all of this happening, but why did that mean Suga had to treat him so callously? Shouldn't Suga be treating him well, and trying to make up for all of this?

Suga didn't come to the cafe anymore. Daichi's coworkers seemed overjoyed about it, because Suga's very presence had made them uncomfortable.

If Daichi had been as uncomfortable as they'd all been, would none of this have ever happened? Would he be just another college student living a boring life, without this supernatural crap shoved down his throat?

He was struck by horror when he realized he wasn't sure whether or not he wished it all had never happened.

As the sun set, Daichi walked to Hinata's. Suga wouldn't be there for awhile yet, but his class had finished early and he really had nothing else to do with himself. It would be stupid to walk home, sit around for half an hour, and then have to walk here.

So Daichi decided to just skip the middle step and chill out at Hinata's for a bit. He'd brought his homework with him, the books heavy on his back as he walked up to the front door and knocked sharply.

“You're here early,” Kageyama said when he answered the door, yawning and rubbing his eye as he stepped aside to let Daichi through.

“My class finished up early,” Daichi explained.

“Oh,” said Kageyama.

Daichi noticed that there was only one pair of shoes sitting by the door. “Did Hinata go out?” he asked Kageyama.

“Yes,” Kageyama replied, “He's out buying groceries.”

“Since it's just you and me Kageyama, could we talk?” Daichi said, and winced a little as he said, “Blood bag to blood bag?” Perhaps he was being stupid. Kageyama didn't really seem like a touchy feely kind of guy.

“What do you want to talk about?” Kageyama asked as Daichi slipped off his shoes. “We could go sit in the kitchen,” he offered.

“Okay,” Daichi said, following the other into the kitchen. “It's just... how did Hinata treat you at first?” he asked. “Because I can tell you're very close now...”

“How does Suga treat  _ you _ ?” Kageyama countered.

Daichi winced as he sat down at the table. “It's like... I'm hardly even there,” he said. “He ignores me as much as he can while having his teeth in my neck.”

Kageyama snorted.

“What's so funny?” Daichi asked.

“Suga's a dick,” said Kageyama.

“Um...”

“He is so emotionally stunted,” Kageyama said, “I don't think he's had an emotion in years before he came here. He's an idiot.”

“That doesn't exactly help me,” Daichi grumbled.

“Well, he's been here just  _ brimming  _ with guilt.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“He's just going on and on to Shouyou about how lousy he feels for making you his blood bag,” Kageyama said, and laughed.

“Why does he care?” Daichi said, getting frustrated.

“He thinks he's ruined your life.”

“Well, he kind of has, hasn't he?” Daichi offered.

“And you want him to treat you good, while you're thinking stuff like that about him?” Kageyama said. “You're a dick, too.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter seven, The Definition of Life, will be posted on April 3rd.
> 
> This week's art is a collab between myself and Maggie--she did the lines and I painted it. Bear in mind, I dropped art as soon as I could in high school so I was a bit out of my element, LOL.


	7. The Definition of Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daichi learns Kageyama’s fate. He realizes his life will never be the same again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DAICHI AND SUGA ARE SOOOOOOOO GAY

_ vi _

Daichi stared at his math homework. The numbers all seemed to float together on the page. He sipped at his tea and scribbled out his scratch work, deciding to start over. He did the calculations and circled his answer, then checked the answer that was in his study guide.

He was just a  _ little _ off, to the tune of about four hundred degrees. He couldn't help but to groan as he took another look, and decided to slowly check his work again.

He didn't understand why he kept screwing these functions up. He had a sample problem with detailed steps open from the textbook, but he hadn't even managed to make one correct calculation yet. He slowly went through his math trying to find the errors. Some of them were errors he could've avoided by using his reference tables, but he thought he'd had all these figures memorized... he couldn't figure out why he was suddenly having problems with it. Then, some of the errors were just  _ stupid _ . Four times six equals thirty? He felt like an idiot.

He glanced at the clock and realized that he had to go to bed soon, it was getting late and he had to be up early tomorrow morning to open up with Noya.

He turned off his lamp and went to bed.

When he awoke in the morning (did it even count as morning when it was still pitch black and dead outside?) he showered quickly and gnawed on a bagel as he laced up his shoes and slung his bag over his shoulders. He was out the door as quickly as he possibly could and head towards work.

Opening up was fairly routine as always. Service, however, was when Daichi realized he'd begun to fall apart.

At first, he did okay. Most of their earliest customers asked for just black coffee or a cappuccino as they hurried to work. This didn't require very much thought.

But then he began to screw up orders. He constantly had to double check with Noya what the orders were, until Noya angrily told him, “Get a notebook if you can't remember! I have my own work to do.”

So Daichi grabbed a couple slips of paper and started writing down the more complicated orders.

At 9:15, a woman order a latte. Daichi could do that easily. Once the espresso machine had finished, he took the cup and grabbed the milk from the fridge, and just as he got the cap off Noya slapped his hand, and said, “Daichi, that's Nakamura's latte!”

“So?” Daichi said stupidly.

“Nakamura's allergic to milk! She asked for soy!” Noya scolded him, grabbing the carton from him and taking out the soy milk instead. “What the hell is your problem today, Daichi?”

_ vii _

When Koushi saw Daichi, he looked... tired. There were dark circles under his eyes and his entire posture was  _ off— _ he curled his spine in on himself and slumped his shoulders, making him look smaller than he really was.

The human kicked his shoes off as he shut the door behind himself, and then noticed Koushi standing on the stairs. “Hey,” he called, rubbing his eye before he pulled off his jacket and hung it on the coat rack.

“Hello,” Koushi said, descending the stairs and glancing into the living room. There was a softly glow from the TV, but it had been muted. He thought he saw Kageyama's feet hanging off the edge of the couch. He took Daichi's hand and noticed it seemed clammy.

Then he looked at Daichi's face and realized that Daichi's eyes were round like saucers, a deer in the headlights. He dropped Daichi’s hand. “What is it?” Koushi asked, “You don't... You don't look well.”

“I'm fine,” Daichi replied, his voice low and off putting. He ducked his head down and glanced at Koushi from under his brow so his eyes were cast in the shadow of it. Koushi felt uncomfortable, but decided to push the feeling aside. He offered Daichi his hand again, but the human looked away, so Koushi solemnly led him up the stairs instead. He sat down on the loft couch and allowed Daichi to climb onto his lap and straddle his hips.

There seemed to be a knot of tension in Daichi that was not normally present. “There is something wrong,” Koushi stated.

“It's nothing,” Daichi said, “I don't want to talk about it.”

“Alright,” Koushi said. He focused on casting his glamour over the human so Daichi would feel no pain. He'd gotten a bit better at this over the past few weeks. He pinched the area as usual, and at the lack of reaction from Daichi, Koushi knew he would be just fine.

With one hand he pushed Daichi's back closer to him, as the human leaned over to give Koushi better access to his neck. Koushi cradled the back of Daichi's head with his other hand, carefully balancing the human. Then, he sunk his fangs into Daichi's skin. Koushi swore that Daichi's skin was butter smooth and it was a satisfying sensation.

He began to draw blood from the intrusion, taking pleasure from it but also feeding quickly. He savored the taste of the blood, but he did not hold it on his tongue, simply swallowing so he could finish taking from Daichi sooner.

Daichi was sweet, Koushi thought as the human gave a small, minute shudder. He knew there was a reason that he was attracted to this human, but Koushi also realized that Daichi was simply of higher quality than his usual fare. The human was never tainted by the bitter undercurrent of alcohol in his blood. He was healthy and active, with a good diet, and wrapped together these factors could create truly delectable blood.

A thought crossed Koushi's mind as he began to finish up.

He pulled away from Daichi's neck and licked the wound clean so that blood would not get on his clothes, and that his saliva would help close up the cuts.

“What's wrong?” he asked, and this time, Daichi answered.

“I've been unable to focus, and I don't know why,” Daichi said, his voice taking a strange, automatic tone. The human shuddered, and then seemed to process what he'd said. He looked accusingly at Koushi, and said, “What did you do to me?”

“It's hypnotic,” Koushi said. “I can tweak the glamour a little, and it becomes hypnotic. It wears off quickly, though.”

“Suga, what the hell?” Daichi said angrily, getting off of Koushi's lap and beginning to pace. “You can't just hypnotize people! I didn't want to tell you. You should've let me have my privacy.”

“I'm sorry, I was worried that it had something to do with me.”

“Don't think so highly of yourself,” Daichi answered.

“ _ What _ ,” Koushi said, his tone flat and dangerous.

“You heard me,” Daichi replied.

“I wouldn't be so condescending,” Koushi said.

“Get over it,” Daichi replied. “You don't respect me. Why should I respect you?”

“I wanted to know what was wrong!” Koushi said.

“And I didn't want to tell you! It's none of your business.”

“Is it that much of leap for me to wonder why you're upset? To care about you?” Koushi said, standing up and crossing his arms as he and Daichi faced each other. Daichi frowned.

“You have a great way of showing you care. You're all hands off and hardly even look at me every time we do this.”

“You push me away!” Koushi argued back, growing frustrated. He balled his hands into fists but kept them firmly at his sides. “I try to offer you affection and attention and you push it away. Why would I keep doing it only to get rejected?”

“You make me uncomfortable! You won't give me the full story on anything!” Daichi argued. “It's all word games and deflection and changing the topic when it’s convenient. Why won't you tell me the truth?”

“Fine. Do you want the truth? Or are you just going to yell at me more?”

“Tell me. Why am I so inattentive right now? Why can't I focus?”

Koushi considered lying, but if Daichi figured out the truth, it would only invalidated him more. “It's an effect of my venom. Don't expect to do very well this semester.”

“What the hell!” Daichi said. “You told me that the venom would just take away the pain.”

“I said the venom  _ would _ take away the pain,” Koushi replied. “I never said it wouldn't do anything else.”

“So I'm going to flunk because you didn't want to tell me that your venom makes me stupid?”

“It doesn't make you  _ stupid _ ,” Koushi said, “It just makes you a little different.”

“That difference is going to make me fail, and probably lose my job!”

“It doesn't matter!” Koushi yelled. “It'll be over in six months.”

“What do you mean it's going to be over in six months?” Daichi demanded.

Koushi stared at him for a moment watching the human fidget. Then he turned away and walked into Hinata's room, slamming the door behind him.

He heard somebody climbing up the stares, and then heard Kageyama say, presumably to Daichi, “Who pissed in his cheerios?”

_ viii _

When Daichi arrived at Hinata's house the next time, Suga wasn't there yet.

“Why don't you stop showing up?” Hinata asked him after they'd exchanged greetings and as Daichi kicked off the shoes.

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” Hinata said, suddenly hesitant, as if he regretted his spurring Daichi. “Suga isn't treating you well. I certainly don't treat Tobio like he treats you,” he went on, “And I've known other vampires who all treated their blood bags... graciously.”

“What about Suga?”

“What do you mean?” Hinata asked. “You're his first.”

“No, I don't mean it in that way,” Daichi clarified, “He was a blood bag, right? When he was human? How was he treated? Wouldn't that be his example?”

“Hmm,” Hinata said, leading Daichi into the living room and seeming rather thoughtful. “Well, he doesn't treat you like his creator probably treated him.”

“What was he treated like?” Daichi asked, searching for specifics. Why were these vampires so cryptic?

Hinata sat on his couch and Daichi sat in the arm chair across from him. The small vampire pulled his legs up and bent his knees, and he said, “When I met Oikawa, he had a blood bag all souped up.”

“I don't understand.”

“The blood bag was too high to even speak,” Hinata said, “He couldn't function. But...”

“What?” Daichi asked.

“Well,” Hinata said, “I don't exactly know how old Suga is,” he confessed, shifting uncomfortably. “He was alone for a long time when he found me, I know that. So Oikawa might've treated him differently. I don't know.”

“What do you know?”

“I know that he kept Suga by his side most of the time,” Hinata said, “And that Suga  _ despised  _ him.”

“Oh...”

“Suga is defensive,” Hinata told him, “And he hates that he's done this to you. Being a blood bag was his worst nightmare. I think he just wants to let you be independent and live your life.”

“That doesn't excuse the fact that he won't tell me anything,” Daichi grumbled.

“I know,” Hinata sighed, looking at the floor. He seemed uncomfortable. “I've tried to reason with him.”

“Hinata, what is going to happen to me?” Daichi questioned him.

“I can't tell you,” the vampire said, appearing rather insecure as he told him, his eyes darting away.

Daichi wasn't sure what to do. He genuinely liked Hinata—unlike Kageyama he was kind to him and always smiled. Unlike Suga, he was generally pretty easy to read and understand, except when Daichi asked questions about Suga. Hinata was straightforward, and he was friendly. He didn't want to upset this vampire with a sunny disposition. He put his feelings aside and he asked, “Then, what's going to happen to Kageyama?”

The vampire's relaxation completely drained from his features. It was almost strange to watch the smile fall away from his lips and his eyebrows push further together, and Daichi swore his whole body visibly paled as he reacted to Daichi's question.

“Kageyama is going to die,” Hinata said.

Daichi did not answer. Kageyama had seemed weak, but was he truly at death's door?

“He had a choice,” Hinata said, “and he chose death.”

“What was the other choice?”

“You should really be talking to Suga about this,” the vampire replied, “Not me.”

“But Suga won't tell me anything.”

“You deserve the truth,” said Hinata, “but Suga will have to tell you. He brought you into this mess, not me.”

“Where is he, anyway?”

“I don't know,” Hinata said, “I don't ask where he goes during the day,” he shrugged. He then tilted his head towards the door, and said, “Speak of the devil,” and then someone began to knock.

The vampire stood up and answered the door. “Hello,” he greeted Suga, and then said, “Come in.”

The vampire crossed the threshold and glanced at Daichi before he slipped off his sweatshirt and said, “Guess he's here early.”

“You owe him an explanation,” Hinata said. “I've been warning you about this.”

Suga sighed and walked into the living room, rubbing the back of his neck. “I kind of wasn't expecting you to come back,” he said. “I thought it'd all scared you off.”

“Suga,” Daichi said, “Stop dancing around it. What are you doing to me?”

The vampire sighed, and sat down on the couch. Hinata had disappeared into another room, and it was just them in the living room. “We didn't tell you the whole truth when we made this arrangement,” he confessed.

“I figured that out on my own,” Daichi said. “So what's going to happen?”

“Since you've been exposed to venom many times now,” Suga said, “Your body has adjusted and it doesn't make you feel pain anymore. But it's still poison.”

“I see.”

“It slowly debilitates the mind, and the body. But mostly the mind. Your personality changes and it’s like you've become a different person. Apparently Kageyama used to be less... abrasive,” the vampire said carefully.

“So, it's like you lose your mind?” Daichi asked.

“Kind of,” Suga said, “I can't pretend I've really observed it over time,” he told him, “But when I see blood bags late in the cycle they are just... gone. They lose awareness of all but pain. Eventually they stop eating and succumb to death.”

Daichi's eyes widened as he tried to imagine that future. “How long does it take?” he asked.

“Six months,” Suga said.

Daichi closed his eyes and put his hands on his head. He'd be dead in six months. That was before his next birthday. He would die before he was even twenty one. “Oh god,” he whispered.

“There is... there is another option. It is what Kageyama refused,” Suga said.

“What did he refuse?” Daichi asked. Could it get any worse than Suga had just said? What was worse than going insane and starving to death?

“Vampirism,” Suga said. “Somewhere around five months is the threshold,” he explained, “After that an individual is too far gone. But before that they can become a vampire and retain their original personality.”

“How does... how does the change work?”

“Venom is meant to slow you down and eventually kill you,” Suga said, “But it also lays groundwork. It spreads throughout your body and only needs to be activated for the change to take place.”

“What activates it?” Daichi asked.

“If I were to change you,” Suga said, “I would slit my wrist and feed you my blood, and then you would collapse in pain as your body rewires itself.”

“Oh,” Daichi said, after a pregnant pause.

“I am afraid neither is a very good choice,” Suga said, “I have damned you either way.”

“Yeah...” Daichi whispered.

“But,” Suga said, “I will afford you the choice yourself. That is a privilege neither I nor Hinata received.”

“Thank you for telling me the truth,” Daichi told Suga. The vampire seemed startled by his gratitude.

“I owed it to you,” Suga replied. “I am a fool.”

_ ix _

When Daichi awoke, his surroundings were unfamiliar. The room was dark and dim, and there was a weight on his chest. His whole body felt cramped and small. He shifted his weight, and hear a squeak. Then he put two and two together and realized that he was still at Hinata's house.

He struggled to recollect what had happened the night before after Suga had fed. Daichi had been exhausted, and felt weak after Suga had drank. He had not wanted to get up and walk home. He realized he'd fallen asleep there.

He shifted again and the weight beside him let out a little gasp. As his eyes adjusted to the dim light, he realized that he was staring directly at Suga, who had fallen asleep on top of him but was now balanced precariously on the tip of the couch.

Suga's breathing was slow, and deep in his sleep, Daichi thought. He wanted to think of Suga as inhuman, and in a lot of ways he was. Suga's red eyes, his unnatural reflexes, and of course his thirst for Daichi's blood were all distinctly inhuman. But not everything about him was. Daichi thought about the tiny crow’s feet by Suga's eyes, how quickly his heart would beat after he fed and was struck by how natural all these things were. And now, Suga in sleep. He'd seen him sleep before, of course, but never this up close.

All the stress that seemed to plague the vampire looked as if it'd been wiped away. Daichi was happy that in sleep, Suga knew peace.

Daichi squirmed and got himself into an upright position, and then he slid off the couch. He pushed Suga towards the middle of the couch so the vampire would not roll off, and then creeped down the stairs.

He was planning to just leave, but he heard the sound of someone cooking in the kitchen and decided to peek in. Kageyama stood at the stove, frying an egg.

“Good morning,” Daichi greeted.

“It's not actually morning,” Kageyama replied, not looking up from his egg.

“Oh,” Daichi said. How long had he been asleep, then? “What time is it?” he asked Kageyama.

“It's 12:06,” Kageyama said. “I don't like people being around during the day, but, you can stay for breakfast if you want. I guess.”

Daichi was surprised by the invitation, but decided it would be best to accept it. He said, “Sure, that'd be great. What do you and Hinata have?” he asked.

“Um, there's some more eggs, some rice, some bread,” Kageyama recited, and then added, “I think there’s some oatmeal mix left too,” he said, “I was eating it when I got sick a while ago.”

“Oatmeal sounds good,” Daichi said absently. He crossed the kitchen and opened the large cupboard that he assumed was the pantry. The shelves were rather bare, which he didn't really find to be that surprising. He found a container of instant oatmeal mix on the middle shelf.

“We have measuring cups in one of the cupboards next to the fridge,” Kageyama said, “and the kettle should be in there too.”

Daichi checked the directions on the box and then he took out one of the measuring cups and filled it up. He plugged in the kettle and poured in the water, and waited for it to boil.

Kageyama finished up his own breakfast as Daichi opened one of the packets and poured the mix in the bowl. The kettle turned off automatically and he poured the water into the bowl, and put away everything else while he waited for his food.

Once it was all finished, he grabbed a spoon and sat down at the table with Kageyama, who was picking at his egg. They sat silently for a few moments, until Kageyama said, “Hinata makes me eat three meals a day,” he continued, “He says it’s really important, or something. But I just don't really get hungry anymore.”

“Kageyama...” Daichi asked hesitantly, “How did you get here?”

Kageyama seemed skittish. Daichi was expecting to get yelled at, or kicked out. But neither happened. Kageyama just shifted in his seat, and said, “I was at a bar with my friends,” he explained. “I'd just bought a fake,” he went on, “and I wanted to get really drunk. My boyfriend had just broken up with me. It was all a bad mix,” he said, seeming ashamed of himself.

“Oh,” Daichi breathed out, but Kageyama didn't acknowledge him.

“I met Hinata, and he was hot, and paying attention to me, and I was drunk. I don't really remember what happened after that, but I know I just disappeared on my friends, came here with Hinata, and when I woke up in the morning I was barely alive.”

“He meant to kill you?” Daichi filled in, feeling his heart drop. Knowing that Suga and Hinata were killers was one thing, but realizing that Kageyama was a victim of attempted murder felt like... another thing entirely.

“Yeah,” Kageyama said. “I woke up, and groaned. He was lying there beside me, still asleep, but when I made noise he woke up and he screamed bloody murder, pretty much,” he frowned and scooped a bit of egg on his fork, lifted it and then turned the fork over so the bit fell back onto his plate upside down.

“That's awful,” Daichi said.

“I guess he could've killed me then,” he said, “but he was going on and on about fixations. So he went out and bought me a bunch of food and was acting all sheepish, and stuff. It was weird. So I was questioning him about it, and he got all defensive at first, but then admitted that being fixated makes them like... pretty much fall in love.”

Daichi jumped, and dropped his spoon. It clattered on the table. Daichi said, “Fixations make vampires fall in love?!”

“Suga didn't tell you that?” Kageyama said, looking irritated. “I thought he was treating you bad because he's a dick and he was angry that you're a jerk. But no, he's just stupid,” Kageyama decided.

“He definitely did not tell me about that,” Daichi said, feeling like someone had just dropped a rock in his gut. A fixation was one thing. A deal was one thing. But love was in a whole other ball park, a category of its own. 

“Well, maybe it’s not really love,” Kageyama said, and Daichi relaxed a little. “It's more like an obsession,” he continued, and Daichi stiffened up again. “It's like... they crave having you around. And for Hinata, and probably Suga, it becomes like love. They're... good, kind of. As good as they can be. They acknowledge that humans aren't just slabs of meat, I guess.”

“I don't get it,” Daichi said.

“Well, it's like...” Kageyama struggled to explain. “Hinata told me that most vampires think of humans like, exclusively as food. But he and Suga aren't like that, and that's why they didn't want blood bags. They think it’s cruel to do this to us,” he continued, “But they still need blood. So they kill. But I guess they think a quick death is a lot better than a slow death.”

“I get it,” Daichi said.

“Yeah, so like, Hinata respects me,” Kageyama said, “So I guess because of that the obsession, or fixation, or whatever grew into love really fast. He said it’s not like that with other vampires. But I've never met any other vampires besides Suga.”

“And do you love Hinata?” Daichi asked, and then quickly said, “I'm sorry. That was rude.”

“It's okay,” Kageyama said. Daichi was confused by his extraordinary change in attitude from when he'd last spoken to Kageyama. “I... I don't know. I was angry at first, but it kind of melted away. I can't tell if it’s all me, or it’s something from the venom. But it's hard to spend all your time around someone who treats you gently and cares about you without growing to care about them too,” he said.

“Kageyama,” Daichi asked, “Why are you being so nice to me?”

Kageyama winced. “I'm technically a missing person,” he said. “So I can't talk to other people. And now there's another human around. It's nice to be with a human.”

“What's the difference between us and them?” Daichi asked, “Besides the whole blood sucking monster thing.”

“They do a really good human act,” Kageyama admitted, “but there's some things that they just can't emulate. It's really nice to be sharing a meal with you right now,” he said.

“Oh...” Daichi said, slightly unnerved. “What can't they get right?”

“Sometimes, when there's nothing to do, Hinata just sits around,” Kageyama said. “Like you know hows there’s a difference between doing nothing, and literally doing nothing?”

Daichi nodded.

“Hinata will just  _ sit  _ and stare at the blank wall sometimes. It makes me wonder what he was up to when he was alone,” Kageyama said. “Apparently vampires don't really get bored like we do. They can just lie around and they're happy.”

“Okay, I admit,” Daichi said, “That's fucking creepy.”

“I don't know,” Kageyama just said. “It's weird. They look like humans, but they've been around for so long that they don't really  _ think _ like us anymore.”

“I get it...”

“And they've doomed us to die.”

“Well, we could become one of them,” Daichi reminded him.

“It's still death,” Kageyama said, “Living like that, it's not a life.”

“I don't understand.”

“You don't age, or grow. Hinata and Suga they're like... they're stuck in habits. Unless something forces itself upon them, they'll never change. It's like they're living in a rut,” Kageyama said. “How can you call that life?”

“I get it... But why do you hate it so much?”

“I care about Hinata, I really do,” Kageyama said, “But vampirism is disgusting. I'd take death any day over existing like that.”

_ x _

Koushi woke up and blearily looked around where he was. He was lying on something soft. He pushed himself into an upright position and rubbed his eyes, and then realized he was still on Hinata's damn couch.

Oops. He and Daichi must've fallen asleep, then. Daichi had been strangely tired after Koushi had fed the night before, and he had lulled to sleep in Koushi's arms. Koushi had felt wrong letting it happen, because Daichi still didn't like him, Daichi still didn't trust him... But he couldn't bear to let himself let go. Daichi's warm and the satisfaction of having just fed coaxed Koushi to sleep beside him.

Fuck.

Koushi got up and walked across the room, peeking through Hinata's thick curtains. He recoiled from the sunlight when it shone through and hit his skin. He shoved the curtain closed again. So it was daytime.

He rubbed his forehead, and realized he could hear voices downstairs.

So someone else, and hopefully more than one of them, was awake as well. He crept to Hinata's door and opened the door to his bedroom, and saw that the younger vampire was sprawled across his bed, snoring softly.

So was Daichi still here?

Koushi walked down the stairs, and turned into the kitchen. There sat Kageyama and Daichi at the table. Daichi was finishing up eating something, and Kageyama seemed to have crushed some egg under his fork.

Their conversation, however, had ceased as soon as they saw Koushi.

“Good morning,” Koushi greeted.

“It's actually about one in the afternoon,” Kageyama corrected, with a scowl.

“Look, I screw up sometimes,” Koushi said, rolling his eyes at the combative human. “I can't exactly go outside right now.” He noticed that Daichi had put down his utensils, and doubted that Kageyama had eaten at all. “How about I do the dishes?” he offered.

“Sure,” Daichi said, seeming eager to defuse the situation. Koushi took his bowl and then took Kageyama's plate along with the utensils, and brought them to the sink. He scraped Kageyama's leftovers into a plastic bag and threw it in the trash, then ran the dishes under hot water.

Kageyama got up and left the room, but Daichi remained. He stood up from the table, and walked over to lean against the counter as Koushi put dish soap on the scrub.

“So what were you and Kageyama getting all chatty about?” Koushi asked. There was an air tension between the two of them, and Koushi wasn't sure what he should do, or even what he could do, about it.

Daichi shifted, and he said, “I was asking Kageyama why he won't become a vampire.”

Koushi snorted. “I could have answered that question for you,” he said. “He thinks we're disgusting low lifes.”

“I guess that's pretty much what he said,” Daichi replied, and Koushi rolled his eyes. “But I guess it’s different from choosing to become a vampire, and having someone do it to you,” he said.

“Well, it’s a fairly cooperative process,” Koushi said, looking away from Daichi as he set down the scrub and grabbed a rag to dry Kageyama's plate with.

“Well, it was forced on you and Hinata, wasn't it?” Daichi asked.

“Oh, Daichi,” Koushi said, “I did this to myself.”

“What do you mean?”

“I could've sworn I told you,” Koushi sighed.

“You haven't,” Daichi insisted.

Koushi began to clean Daichi's bowl. “I was born poor. I moved to Edo to find work, but was kidnapped one night soon after I had arrived. I only knew a handful of people in Edo when I disappeared, so nobody really noticed. I was the perfect target,” he said.

Daichi seemed interested. Koushi was irritated at himself for revealing that small detail about his age. He continued his story, “I was walking home from the market when I was attacked. It was dark. He slung a rock against my head and I passed out. When I awoke I was in a dark and dim room, and my mouth was gagged. I was in so much pain. I struggled to move, and I screamed through the gag. Eventually, he returned to that room, and the first words my maker ever said to me were, 'You're my boy now.'”

“Just like that it all happened?”

“Just like that,” Koushi replied. “He kept me on that bed for probably a week or two. I had movement of my arms, but my ankles were cuffed by ropes to the bed. He fed at his discretion, and all I could think of was escape.”

“Did you try?” Daichi asked.

“No,” Koushi said. “Once I began to weaken, I was allowed to wander his house. I was literate, and I liked to read his things. I was docile. He began to call me love, but I could tell it was all a farce,” Koushi said. He took the rag and began to dry the bowl. “There was another vampire who would visit sometimes. He would lock me out of the bedroom on those nights, and I had to sleep on the floor. That other vampire would always leave as quickly as he came, and avoided looking at me.”

He set down the bowl and quickly washed the utensils. “I hated my situation and never felt satisfied with what had happened. I began to despise Oikawa, but I also listened to him. The next time that other vampire came, I hid outside the bedroom and listened to their conversations. I learned that night how to make a vampire. I also learned that Oikawa intended to let me die.

“I began to bide my time and decided what I wanted to do. Oikawa always slept during the day, but I rose in the early afternoon and slept in the early morning. So one day after I woke I went to the kitchen and I stole a knife. I crept back to the bedroom and I slit Oikawa's arm and the blood began to spill all over the sheets. I immediately began to lap it up, and Oikawa stirred from the pain. He tore me away from his arm, but I had already drunk. He attacked me and tried to force me to vomit it out. I did not. I fought back and he was unable to stop my change before it began.”

“Oh my god,” Daichi whispered.

Koushi put away the utensils. “Once I had completed my change, he cared for me as a fledgling and nurtured me into a full grown vampire,” he said, “But as I saw his life through the eyes of a vampire, I grew to hate him even more. I watched him manipulate other humans who he'd abducted just as he had I, and I questioned him. He told me that that was just how vampires lived. I watched his blood bags waste away in agony, and I swore I would never do that to a human.”

He put the bowl and the plate away in the cupboard. “Yet here I am,” he said.

“Suga,” Daichi said, reaching out to touch the vampire.

“Don't tell me you pity me,” Koushi said.

“I don't,” Daichi said, laying a palm against Koushi's cheek. Koushi did not move away from Daichi's hand, but he restrained himself from reacting to it either. “Why do you hate it so much? Isn't it all death in the end?”

“I can give the humans I killed before a peaceful death,” Koushi said. “I gave them pleasure and eased them into death. You will suffer.”

“Do I have to?” he asked. “Do I have to die like Kageyama?”

“No, you don't,” Koushi said, “But do you really want to spread death? Do you want to be like me?”

“I don't know,” Daichi said, “But there must be something worthwhile to your existence.”

“You are like the opposite of my maker,” Koushi said with a chuckle.

“He sounds like a terrible person.”

“He does have his bright spots,” Koushi admitted, “But I am rather biased against him. He did, however, indirectly allow me to meet you.”

He lifted his own hand and took the one that was on his cheek, grasping it and drawing it down so their hands hung between them.

“I guess that's something.”

“It's a gift,” Koushi said, “because you are fascinating, enthralling, and beautiful.” He took a step closer, and stared into Daichi's sweet, brown eyes, then dropped his gaze to the human's lips. Some sort of unspoken communication passed between the two of them, as they both leaned their heads and closed the gap between their lips. Koushi let go of Daichi's hand and grasped the back of Daichi's head instead, and after a moment they separated, and Daichi blinked at him.

Koushi's mind flooded with regret. Was he manipulating Daichi like this? “I'm sorry,” he said.

Daichi licked his lips. “Don't be,” he replied.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Eight, Don't Answer the Door, has a tentative publication date of April 10th. Due to my end of semester workload (this coming week is the last week of classes) and personal mental health issues, I have run out of prewritten chapters.
> 
> If I can't publish Chapter Eight next Sunday, it will be published on April 17th. If this happens, I will NOT take a two week break between Chapter Ten and Chapter Eleven, which were originally scheduled to be published on April 24th and May 8th.


	8. Don't Answer the Door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koushi meets Oikawa again. Daichi lets Koushi in, and Koushi returns the favor.

 

_ xi _

Time had passed by when Daichi wasn't looking.

It was startling how easily they fell into a routine. Suga both kept his distance and he didn't—it felt impossible to read what was on his mind and Daichi didn't know what to do with him sometimes. They were close and they were not—some nights Suga would kiss him and make him feel safe but other nights Suga felt as cold and distant as the moon.

One night, Suga told him, “Don’t bother coming next time, just come in a week.”

“Why?” Daichi asked him, feeling a little weak in his limbs. He blinked groggily as he stretched his body out from the position Suga had fed in.

“I want to slow it down,” Suga replied, his hand reached out to stroke the spots where his teeth had penetrated Daichi’s skin, already beginning to scab up, the healing process expedited by Suga’s venom.

“How does that change it?”

“If we move to once a week,” Suga said, “You’ll feel a bit weaker afterward, but I’ll take less from you over the course of the week. And you’ll have less exposure to venom.”

“Oh,” Daichi said. He envisioned his night off. Maybe he could catch up with homework, or actually hang out with his friends for once. It sounded nice. “That works.”

The problem was, Daichi didn’t talk to his friends anymore. He hardly talked to Noya anymore outside of what their job required of them. Daichi was on a downward slide, and had slipped from being an average employee to a pretty lousy one. He was surprised the boss hadn’t noticed yet and reprimanded him. It was good that the owner hardly ever visited the coffee shop in the mornings, but Daichi knew it was only a little while until Noya complained.

After all, Noya didn’t really deserve to be picking up Daichi’s slack.

_ xii _

Koushi knew there was a limit on Hinata's graciousness, so he took to spending the nights that he wasn't feeding out in town. Today he would feed though, but he wasn't quite ready to get up yet.

He wandered. He was still worried about Oikawa, but Oikawa had been laying low. Hopefully he had gone elsewhere in Japan, and wouldn't keep trying to convince Koushi to join his cause. Hopefully he'd gone to recruit some other brainless vampires.

He was not sure what time it was. He told Hinata he’d be there early tonight, and had left the den he’d slept in as soon as the sun had set, but he’d gotten distracted and knew he was already running late.. The park had closed recently though, yet there he sat by the fountain. The fountain was turned off, and the water sat in it, cold and stagnant.

The hairs on the back of Koushi's neck stood straight up as he heard footsteps. His head snapped up and he looked around quickly, trying to find the source of the sound.

To the west was a group of three people.

It was Oikawa, Koushi just  _ knew _ , and then one of them waved—fuck. It was definitely Oikawa.

“Koushi!” he called. “Did you miss me?”

Koushi got up and immediately started walking in the other direction.

Oikawa broke into a sprint and grabbed his wrist. “Now,” he said, “Don't be so rude. I raised you better than that.”

“Can't you get the message to leave me alone?”

“No,” Oikawa trilled. His two companions caught up with them.

The first was Iwaizumi, Koushi realized. He hadn't seen that vampire since he was a human. He looked the same as he did so long ago though, although slightly bedraggled now.

“What are you still doing around here anyways?” Oikawa asked. “You stopped making headlines, so where are you feeding? It must be somewhere.”

“That's really my own business, not yours,” Koushi said.

“There isn't even anything to  _ do  _ here, aren't you bored? I'm just here for you, and I’m already bored.”

“I guess I have a higher tolerance for boredom than you do,” Koushi replied, and then turned to the other vampire.

“Iwaizumi,” he greeted him.

“Koushi,” the vampire replied. “It's good to see you again.”

“I'd rather see you without him here,” Koushi told him, “I wouldn’t mind catching up otherwise.” He turned to the human that accompanied them then. He was gaunt looking, but tall and built of lean, wiry muscle. “Who's this?” Koushi asked.

“My consort,” Iwaizumi said, gripping the human's wrist tightly, like one would a small child who was apt to wander away.

“And do you have anything to say, blood bag?” Koushi asked, mostly to test Oikawa's reaction.

The human just glared at him, his lips pressed shut in a thin line.

“Don't you dare,” Oikawa said, roughly grabbed Koushi's shoulder, his fingers digging painfully into the flesh. “I don't want to hear from your lousy attitude.”

“There's a simple solution to that,” Koushi replied. “You stay the hell away from me.”

“Afraid not,” Oikawa said. “I still need your help.”

“Go get help from someone who buys into your crap,” Koushi told him. “I couldn't care less who runs Japan.”

“I know you're strong,” Oikawa said.

“So what? Go get ten pawns instead. I refuse to help you. I don't want anything to do with you.”

“Well, here's the thing Koushi... The fact that you're still here in Miyagi means there's something you're staying here for, and I just have to find out what it is. Is Hinata here? Or have you picked up some other lost lamb?” Oikawa asked him.

“There is  _ nothing  _ here,” Koushi protested, spitting at Oikawa. “You're just deluding yourself, trying to think of some reason that I would help you, or even have anything to do with you.”

“You are such a liar,” Oikawa sighed.

“So what? Why'd you drag Iwaizumi and some blood bag here anyways?”

The human reacted to that, trying to step forward, but Iwaizumi grabbed his forearm instead of his wrist and tightened his grip, and told the human, “Don't.”

“You're changing the subject,” Oikawa said, grabbing Koushi by the neck. Then he began to laugh. “Holy crap, Koushi, you're cold!” he exclaimed.

“Don't touch me,” Koushi said, jerking himself away from Oikawa's grasp.

“You must be  _ parched _ ,” Oikawa said. “When was the last time you ever fed?”

“It's really none of your business,” Koushi snarled.

“Go have a sip,” Oikawa offered, nodding his head towards the human. “Iwaizumi wouldn't mind.” The blood bag looked disgusted.

Koushi knew sharing was a thing, but even if he wasn’t fixated he wouldn’t want anything to do with it. “I'd really rather not,” Koushi said, looking away and trying to figure out a way to get out of this situation.

“You just sound like you need to be convinced,” Oikawa said, and then he turned to Iwaizumi, and said, “Bite him.”

“I wish you wouldn't offer Kyoutani out like that,” Iwaizumi said, rolling his eyes, but he listened to Oikawa anyways, and sunk his teeth into the human's neck. Koushi didn't think fast enough to fake a reaction.

Iwaizumi had neglected to cast his glamour, and the human hissed through his teeth in pain, his eyes screwed shut.

“That's just cruel,” Koushi stated.

“You didn't react at all!” Oikawa said, sounding stunned.

“I'm not a barbarian,” Koushi tried to say, anything, anyway to talk himself out of this.

“Oh, but this is more—oh my god, Koushi, do you have a consort? You?” Oikawa said, deducing that Koushi had a really fixation.

“Of course not!”

“You are  _ such _ a liar,” Oikawa sneered again. “I'd love to meet them.”

Koushi couldn't think of anything to do but to sprint straight for Hinata's.

_ xiii _

Daichi went early to Hinata's, as soon as he'd gotten out of the single lecture he had that day. He picked up some food at the grocery store and carried the plastic bag with him up the road to Hinata's place. He arrived at the house and knocked on the front door. Kageyama answered after a moment, looking haggard. “Hey, Daichi,” he said, “You're early.”

“I have some groceries,” Daichi stated, “I was thinking I'd make us some dinner before Suga comes.”

“Oh,” Kageyama said, sounding surprised. “I can't,” he began to say.

“Don't worry about it,” Daichi cut him off, “It's just some veggies and rice, your stomach should be able to handle that, right?”

“Yeah,” Kageyama finally gave in, but gave the grocery bag a suspicious look. He let Daichi in and Daichi slipped off his shoes, and they headed into the kitchen.

“I hope I didn't wake you,” Daichi said as he took the vegetables out of the bag and laid them out on the counter.

“No,” Kageyama told him, “I've been having some trouble sleeping lately, so I was already up... It's just a pain in the ass to go up and down the stairs.”

“Oh, I see,” Daichi said.

Kageyama wouldn't say it, but he had trouble preparing his own food now, and Hinata wasn't exactly a master chef, even with instructions. Kageyama leaned against the counter as Daichi grabbed the container of rice and scooped some rice into the strainer. He ran the water through the strainer, and said, “How have you been doing?”

“Bad,” Kageyama said flatly, and then he softened a bit and said, “Hinata's been really sweet lately. There's just not... much to be done here, you know? I tried going on the computer the other day but turns out Hinata doesn't have internet.”

“Hinata's computer works?” Daichi asked. He poured the rice into a saucepan and ran some water into it too, before setting the saucepan on the stovetop and setting it to boil. He took the peppers and began to chop them up, setting them aside. Then he took the can of peas and opened it, draining the excess liquid in the sink and then putting the peas into a measuring cup.

“It was making weird noises,” Kageyama admitted, “I think it was a Windows 95.”

“Somehow this doesn't surprise me at all,” Daichi said. He put some water in a pot and set it to boil, and then turned the rice down to the lowest possible setting.

“Yeah,” Kageyama said, “But yeah. It's been boring.”

“I could stop by a bit more often if you'd like,” Daichi offered, feeling a little bad for Kageyama.

“No, don't worry about it,” Kageyama said. The silence was a little bit unsettling. Daichi awkwardly focused on stirring the rice a little with a wooden spoon.

The issue with Kageyama was he never thought to ask Daichi about his day, and the issue with Daichi was he still always felt too unsettled with Kageyama to bring it up himself.

Daichi opened the can of green beans and drained that can as well, then set them aside, waiting for the water in the pot to come to a boil.

“Do you guys have a spice cupboard?” Daichi asked.

“Yeah,” Kageyama said, pointing to the cabinet next to the stove. Daichi looked inside. It was an empty cabinet with a few small bottles of spices on it, the bare necessities of it was what Daichi had really come to expect from Hinata.

The pot started to steam, so Daichi poured the vegetables in, stirred them up a little bit, then covered the pot and set it for a few minutes to cook.

Kageyama's stomach was fussy, like a child. Whenever they ate together, which had become a more often occurrence, they had to eat plain, simple foods so that they wouldn't upset Kageyama's stomach. So most of the food Daichi ate with him was very bland.

He didn't know what he'd do when he'd be like that. Daichi liked spicy foods and he liked variety. It seemed very boring to eat unseasoned and plain foods.

He turned the heat off on the rice and strained the vegetables, then tossed them in with the rice and stirred it up. Kageyama grabbed plates and served himself, handing the other place to Daichi. Daichi spiced his own serving.

“Thank you for the food,” they said together, and began to eat, then Kageyama told Daichi, “Thank you for cooking.”

“No problem,” Daichi told him.

“It's good,” Kageyama said, “I think Hinata could burn water.”

Daichi snorted, and then heard somebody walking down the stairs.

“What's that about me?” Hinata asked.

“You can't cook,” Kageyama told him.

“For someone who hasn't eaten food in decades I think I'm a pretty good cook,” Hinata said defensively.

“Have you tasted anything you've cooked him?” Daichi asked.

Hinata made a face. “Ew, no,” he said. He looked at the leftover food in the pan, and asked them, “Are you guys going to eat more?”

They both answered no, so Hinata began to pack up the food in tupperware and place it in the fridge. He looked stressed out. “What's wrong?” Daichi asked him.

“Suga is late,” he replied, “He told me he'd be here early this week.”

“Oh,” Daichi said. Since they'd cut down, Suga had been very thirsty when he would feed from him, but still refused to take more than usual. “Has he been struggling?” he asked Hinata.

“I don't know,” Hinata said, “I haven't seen him at all this week, he hasn't been around since last time he fed.”

“Oh,” Daichi said again, feeling useless. He couldn't think of anything else to say about that. He and Kageyama finished eating, and Daichi did the dishes, when someone began to knock on the door.

Hinata went and answered it. “Come in,” he told Suga, and as soon as he had Suga shoved him aside and slammed the door shut behind him, locking it.

“What's going on?” Hinata questioned, eyes wide at Suga's behavior.

Suga stalked into the kitchen, and barked at Daichi and Kageyama, “Whatever you two do, don't answer the door,” he ordered.

“Suga, what's happening?”

“We need to lock the windows,” Suga said.

“Why?”

“I'll tell you after we do it,” Suga told him, stalking to the living room and locking the door to the backyard.

“But no vampire can even get in without permission,” Hinata argued.

“Hinata,” Suga sounded deeply irritated, “This isn't about safety. It's about them,” he said. “We're used to determined vampires.”

Daichi followed them into the living room, bewildered.

“Fine,” Hinata said. “I'll go lock the windows upstairs.”

“What's happening?” Daichi asked Suga. Kageyama leaned against the rails of the staircase, looking nervous himself.

Then someone began to knock on the door, quickly and insistently. Both Daichi and Kageyama stared at it.

“That,” Suga said, “That's happening. I'm parched and my creator's stalking me.”

_ xiv _

Oikawa was relentless. He knocked for an hour straight, and sat outside the door all night. In the morning, he was gone, but Suga was trapped, and didn't want Daichi to leave in case he was hiding nearby.

At dusk, Suga's creator was nowhere to be seen. Daichi immediately felt better, and he noticed that Kageyama did too. When Hinata announced the coast was clear, Kageyama had loudly sighed in relief and a lot of the tension in his posture had melted away.

“We should get you back home,” Suga turned to Daichi and told him. Daichi yawned and nodded in agreement.

They both put on their shoes and jackets and bid their hosts goodbye. Suga set a quick pace as they walked towards Daichi's apartment, Daichi guiding him there.

“Do we have to walk so fast?”

“Daichi,” Suga said, “my creator didn't figure out where I was. He can track me. The sooner I get you in a house, the better for everyone.”

“Oh,” Daichi said, moving his legs a little quicker to keep up with Suga's brisk pace. “What would happen if your creator caught us?” he asked.

“I don't know,” Suga admitted, “But he wants my cooperation, and he wouldn’t be averse to hurting you in order to force my hand. So...”

Daichi felt his stomach turn a little bit at the sound of that. “I see,” he said, and stared at his shoes as they walked. Something about hanging out with vampires made Daichi feel very small.

Suga walked Daichi up to Daichi's apartment, and seemed distracted. “I should go now,” he said, “So he doesn't figure out where you live.”

Daichi frowned. That persistent, creepy vampire had driven Daichi to distraction all of the previous night. It'd suck to have that vampire harassing him as well. But the thought of Suga having to deal with him all night alone made Daichi feel worse. “No, Suga,” Daichi said.

“What do you mean?” Suga asked.

“Please come inside,” Daichi said, taking his key and unlocking the door. “Stay here with me. It's safer.”

Suga said, “I really shouldn't,” but he seemed to be looking wistfully inside. Daichi knew Suga was being stupid and trying to protect him.

“Just come in,” Daichi said. “You have nowhere to go. So be with me.”

Daichi held the door open for him, and after hesitating once more, the vampire stepped over the threshold and Daichi closed the door behind him, awkwardly flipping on the lights as they both took off their shoes. “Um, it's not much,” he said awkwardly as he looked around his kitchen. There was a huge pile of dirty dishes in the sink, and mail all over his table.

Daichi didn't get visitors a lot.

“It's a home,” Suga replied. He hung back awkwardly by the door, as if waiting for Daichi to do something.

Daichi ran his fingers through his hair. What was he going to do anyway? He'd thought about catching up on some TV on his way home, but as he thought about it he decided the idea wasn't very appealing, he didn't want Suga to see him being a lazy bum. So he said, “I'm gonna work on some homework,” he strode over to the table and pushed some of the mail aside. His backpack still sat on the other table. He took his laptop out of it, and said, “I have some books in the other room, if you want to read or something.”

“That sounds alright,” Suga said blithely, and he disappeared into the other room. Daichi booted up his laptop and opened his computer science assignment, looking at where he'd stopped working. He always got frustrated and quit working in the middle of a problem, and when he returned to it he was always confused as to how he'd gotten to the part where he left off.

Suga returned with a random novel from Daichi's bookshelf, and read a grand total of two pages before he distracted Daichi from his work saying, “This is absolutely ridiculous.”

“Huh?” Daichi said, completely losing his train of thought.

“This... novel,” Suga said, as if it didn't deserve to be called the word. He flashed the cover at Daichi, and Daichi realized it was the third novel in a science fiction series.

“Well,” Daichi said, “You're not even starting with the beginning of the story. That's the third part.”

“I don't mean its sequentiality,” Suga argued, “It's the very premise,” he grumbled, “It's entirely illogical and impossible.”

“It's just a story,” Daichi said. “It's supposed to be entertaining.”

“Why would someone enjoy something so impossible?”

“It's called the suspension of disbelief,” Daichi said, “You're supposed to stop thinking about how it could work and enjoy the story.”

“I don't get it,” Suga sighed.

“I always imagined vampires were like, into fiction,” he said.

“Some are,” Suga said, and wrinkled his nose.

“Then what do you do with eternity?” Daichi asked him. “What are your hobbies? I thought at least Hinata likes to read.”

“Hinata likes to read actual science,” Suga replied, and then said, “I talk to people, I guess. I don't really feel a need to occupy myself.”

“That's so strange,” Daichi said.

“Your time is fleeting,” Suga said. “When you do nothing, you consider it a waste of your time. But when you have all of time you can conceive before you to exist... does it really seem so strange to do nothing at all?”

“I guess not,” Daichi said. “But you really can just sit there and do nothing? It sounds  _ boring _ .”

“I get bored when there's things I wish I was doing,” Suga replied. “If there's something pressing on my mind. Usually there isn't.”

“It sounds very unfulfilling,” Daichi said.

“I don't have any reason to seek fulfillment,” Suga said, “My existence is meaningless. I learned that long ago.”

Daichi shut his laptop, any pretense of actually working on his homework completely forgotten. “Your life is not meaningless,” he said, “You were here to save Hinata.”

“Be honest,” Suga told him, “Did saving Hinata do anything good for anyone but Hinata?”

“You make me happy,” Daichi said.

“I'm a  _ leech _ ,” Suga replied. “I'm killing you. Why are you so eager to forget that?”

“Well seeing as you've held a grudge for your entire existence against your creator, I don't think you'll get it,” Daichi said playfully, “But when your time is fleeting it's pretty useless to stay angry.”

“Well, I will admit on the perception of time,” Suga replied, “I've structured my life around you now, and I do get bored again. It makes me anxious when you are doing things and I am not. You make me want to do more than observe.”

“I hope  _ I'm _ not the thing that's making you bored.”

“God forbid,” Suga replied, “I get bored when I'm alone, because I miss you.”

“That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me.”

“Well, before you get too touchy feely about it,” Suga said, “Most things in my life are transient. You've been here what, three months now? I never talk to most people more than once. Of course I think about you when you're not there.”

“You could... well, you could stay here you know.”

“We agreed on Hinata's,” Suga said. “Why would you change that?”

“Well, I didn't really know what was going to happen then, and I was scared,” he said. “I don't want to think about you being harassed by some other vampire. You've been a part of my life now for three months. And I know your venom is messing with me and making me feel attached to you, but I do care. So stay with me.”

Suga still seemed as if he had reservations.

“I'll clean it up a little,” Daichi said.

Suga laughed. “That's hardly the problem,” he said.

“Then what is the problem?”

“I feel like you should have your private space.”

“I'm telling you it doesn't matter. Don't decide what's best for me,” Daichi argued, “Listen to me. I'm telling you I want you to stay. My bedroom doesn't even have a window. You don't have to worry about the sun.”

Suga snorted, and then said, “Well... I suppose.”

“Admit it,” Daichi said, “You're psyched. A real bed.”

“Honestly,” Suga replied, “I'm rather touched.”

Daichi said, “I'm glad,” then got up, and said, “I better give you a tour then.”

“That's a little ridiculous,” Suga said, “I think I can find my way around a one bedroom apartment.”

“Tour!” Daichi repeated, holding out his hand and grinning at the vampire.

Suga couldn't help but to smile. He took Daichi's hand and said, “Fine,” and stood up.

“Well, this is my kitchen,” Daichi said, “You have no use for it. So let's move on.”

He walked into the living room and switched on the light. “This is my living room,” he said, putting on an affect tone of voice, “I have a fantastic library,” he said, gesturing to the bookshelf that was crammed with old science fiction and dime novels. He swept his hand towards his tiny TV and sparse collection of DVDs scattered around it and said, “and a state of the art entertainment center.”

He dragged Suga into the tiny cramped bathroom, and said, “Now, you have unrestrained access to a shower. I want you to use it. I know you showered today and I get that you don't sweat, but you have been pretty rank before. So shower.”

“You thought I smelled bad?” Suga asked, “Why didn't you tell me?”

“You don't just tell people they smell bad,” Daichi said. “It's rude. You're supposed to suck it up.”

“Let me know when I smell bad,” Suga said.

“Why not just shower every few days?” Daichi said. “Unlimited time means time to take showers.”

“ _ Fine _ ,” Suga gave in, and Daichi laughed. He took Suga's hand again, and led him into the bedroom, flicking on those lights as well.

“And well, this is our room I guess,” Daichi said. “Since you're here now. I know my bed isn't very nice and I know the place is kind of cramped and Hinata's is way nicer... but yeah.”

“Daichi,” Suga said, “I haven't had a home in a very, very long time. Of course I like yours. And it's very sweet that you want me to stay with you.”

Daichi couldn't help but blush. “You actually like it?” he said. “I don't bring anyone around... ever really.”

“I do,” Suga said. With his free hand he reached out to caress Daichi's cheek, and then leaned in and kissed him on the lips.

Daichi's eyes darted away and he couldn't stop himself from smiling after the peck. “You know, we've never really been alone before,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean just us in a private place. Because even before Hinata and Kageyama were in the house.”

“I can assure you that Kageyama and Hinata don't care about whatever we're doing.”

“You get what I mean though?” Daichi said, making eye contact with Suga.

Suga gave in. “I do understand.” He traced his hand down the curve of Daichi's neck, and rested it on the juncture of his neck and shoulders. Daichi couldn't help but to fidget a little at the touch. “It is... nice to not have any possibility of being intruded upon.”

Daichi leaned in closer to Suga and kissed him slowly, then decided to take it just the little bit further. He opened his mouth and Suga responded in turn, licking the tips of Daichi's top teeth before retreating his tongue back to his own mouth.

They'd kissed a lot over the past few months, but it'd always been a lead up to Suga's feeding. Daichi knew it was supposed to be a distraction while Suga cast his glamour, but they were all alone and had a whole night before them... He wanted kissing to be more than that.

Daichi began to lose his breath and he broke away, but Suga simply tugged on the hem of Daichi's shirt. Daichi got the message and helped Suga pull it off. He mumbled, “There's a bed, and we're just standing here.”

“You were so  _ confident _ before,” Suga teased him sweetly, but the vampire swept across the room and sat on the bed, and Daichi followed him.

“Well, you're you,” Daichi said, “And you're a really good kisser, and gorgeous... It's a little intimidating.”

“You've had twenty years to practice kissing,” Suga said bluntly, and Daichi wanted to say he definitely hadn't spent  _ all  _ that time practicing kissing, but he couldn't because Suga kissed him again. This kiss was short, and Daichi began to pull at the hem of Suga's own shirt.

“Have you had a lot of lovers?” Daichi asked as he pulled Suga's t-shirt off. His eyes traced Suga's body—Suga didn't really have much defined muscle, his chest and his belly were flat and smooth.

“I've been with many people over the years... but the only person I was ever with more than once was my creator. What about you?” he turned the question on Daichi.

“I had a girlfriend before,” Daichi said. “We were together for a year, but we broke up when she decided to move back home.”

“Have you ever had sex with a man?” Suga asked.

“No,” Daichi said, and glanced away.

“Look, Daichi... There's nothing wrong with that,” Suga said. “Don't be embarrassed. It is cute, but I don't want you to feel uncomfortable.”

“I’m not embarrassed,” Daichi said. “It’s just new.”

“Do you  _ want  _ to have sex?” Suga asked. “That's the idea I was getting before.”

“I do,” Daichi said, “I'm just a little nervous. But I'm still one hundred percent.”

“Okay,” Suga said, scooting closer to Daichi. “Come on,” he said, “Kiss me again.”

He tilted his head and closed the distance between their lips, kissing Daichi slow and tenderly. Daichi put his hands on Suga's hips and Suga splayed his on Daichi's back. Daichi shuddered at the contact. Suga had fed the night before, so he was not cold, but his skin was cool to the touch—it made Daichi feel super aware of everywhere Suga touched, and he didn't think he could complain. Suga broke the kiss and pushed on Daichi's shoulders, and Daichi got the message.

He scooted himself over to lay down on the bed. Suga initially straddled his hips, then began to shimmy out of his sweatpants. He kicked them aside, his erection standing out in his boxers. He unbuttoned Daichi's jeans and Daichi quickly kicked them off himself, toeing off his socks while he was at it. Suga leaned over Daichi and kissed him again, and Daichi felt a bit more confident. He rolled over and they flipped their position, and Daichi started to kiss Suga's throat, sucking on the skin and biting it lightly.

At one particularly insistent bite, Suga grumbled, “That's your blood, you know. You're wasting it.”

Daichi sat up, and declared, “Hickeys are not a waste.”

Suga tugged on his arm, forcing Daichi to lean down, and he said in a low voice, “You see, Daichi, I'm stingy.” The vampire pulled him down and his fangs slid through the skin of Daichi's neck. He hadn't cast his glamour, and it did hurt, but the bite wasn't as deep as usual and Suga was not actively drawing the blood from him, only lapping up what had spilled over the cuts. The initial pain faded, and Daichi pulled himself away as soon as the vampire’s grip slackened.

Suga had been messy. There was a line of blood trailing from the corner of his mouth down his chin, and his mouth lay slack and tiny drops of his blood clung to his fangs. It was... really hot, Daichi thought.

He leaned in and licked the line of blood up. It had a metallic tang, but it was not repulsive. Suga complained, “You don't need that.”

Daichi sat up. “Please,” he teased, then pressed his fingers to the bite, collecting a thin sheen of blood over his middle and index fingers as the cut steadily oozed blood. He held the two fingers out to Suga, and the vampire’s gaze locked upon them. He opened his mouth and Daichi stuck his fingers inside, careful to avoid the sharp fangs. Suga sucked on his fingers, laving his tongue over them long after all the blood was gone.

Daichi pulled his fingers away, and kissed Suga again, being a bit more adventurous with his tongue, pressing it in Suga's mouth. He accidentally nicked his tongue on one of Suga's fangs though, and trailed blood in Suga's mouth before he broke the kiss and sucked on his tongue as the minute bleeding slowed down.

“Did that hurt?” Suga asked, sounding concerned. He squeezed Daichi's thigh.

“Just a little,” Daichi said, rolling his tongue in his mouth.

Suga's hand drifted from Daichi's thigh to his boxers as he groped the bulge of Daichi's erection, and he asked, “Daichi, do you have lube?”

“Yeah,” Daichi said distractedly, then registered the comment and said, “Shit, I do.”

He got off Suga and rolled off the bed, hopping onto his feet and crossing the room to get to his dresser, fishing out a small bottle of lubricant and extracting a condom from a box.

He crawled back onto the bed and threw the two on the pillow. Suga pushed him to lay down on his back, and wriggled out of his boxers. Daichi's eyes immediately dropped to look at Suga's dick, which was of average size (Daichi figured, he didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about how big dicks were) and was surrounded by a trimmed patch of gray hair. Suga scooted a bit further up Daichi's body and lifted his hips as he unscrewed the cap of the lube bottle and poured some onto his hand.

As he rubbed it evenly over a few fingers, Suga said conversationally, “You know, vampires can't get it up when we're thirsty. We reallocate blood for important things when we don't have a lot of it... I guess biology says that creatures that can't sexually reproduce don't need to get it on.”

Daichi couldn't help but to laugh. “I'm glad you fed yesterday, then.” Suga pressed the bottle into his hands as he jutted his hips back and reached to push a finger into his body.

“Help me out,” Suga prompted, “This isn't the most comfortable reach.”

Daichi unscrewed the cap and poured lube onto his hand, then closed the bottle as he spread it evenly over his fingers. He reached his hand under Suga's balls and pressed on his hole, then hesitantly pushed in a finger beside Suga's own.

Suga pulled his finger out and Daichi hesitantly pushed in another, testing the waters and pushing them both in all the way up to the second knuckle. Suga breathed out a heavy exhale, and said, “Just like that, Daichi.”

Daichi pulled his fingers out and pressed his ring finger in as well, pushing them all in as far as they could go and began to shallowly thrust them in and out, pressing his fingers forward. Suga gasped and shuddered, and Daichi pressed the spot again on the next thrust, pressing it with the pads of his fingers, causing the vampire to moan.

“God, Daichi, I need more,” Suga said. He tugged on Daichi's arm and pulled it away, and tugged on the waistline of Daichi's boxers and pulled them down to Daichi's ankles where Daichi kicked them off instead.

He gripped Daichi's dick, his grip firm but not too tight as he jacked him. “Daichi,” Suga said, “I don't know if anyone's told you this, but you have a gorgeous cock.”

“Uh,” Daichi said, fumbling for the condom, “Thanks?”

Suga laughed. He took the condom from Daichi and ripped the packaging, and then put the condom on Daichi. Daichi unscrewed the top of the lubricant once more and Suga offered out his hand, so Daichi poured a dollop into his palm and tried not to let his hands tremble as he screwed the cap back on the bottle and Suga rubbed the lube over his dick.

Suga grabbed the base of Daichi's dick and aligned his body, slowly lowering himself onto Daichi's dick until he had taken him to the root. Daichi groaned, unsure what to make of the feeling. Suga was  _ tight _ , but his insides were cool. He wasn't cold—he was perhaps only a few degrees cooler than Daichi, but the sensation was odd.

Suga lifted his hips and then dropped them again, setting a moderate pace. As they started to build up more friction it became more pleasurable, and Daichi began to be a more active participant. He thrusted his hips up to meet Suga's as Suga would press his back down.

“That's good Daichi, that's good,” Suga moaned. One of his hands splayed across Daichi's chest and the spot felt electric, Suga's cool skin feeling excellent on Daichi's body. Daichi was sure he was overheating.

It was so much, maybe it was too much, but Daichi knew he didn't want to cum yet. He reached his hand out and fondled Suga's cock, exploring the organ and jacking Suga, who let out another moan. “God, Daichi, it's been so long,” he trilled, and finally lost his breath, his movements still as he took Daichi to the root.

Daichi squirmed and Suga got up, Daichi's dick slipping from his hole. Daichi pressed on his shoulders and they flipped positions. “How long has it been?” Daichi asked, amazed that he had the wits together. He pressed Suga's knees forward towards his chest, and guided his dick to Suga's hole and fucked into him, taking more control of the situation.

“Years, Daichi, years,” the vampire whined, his eyes falling shut. Daichi picked up the pace, angling to hit Suga's prostate. Suga dug his fingers into the mattress and curled his toes, warning, “I'm gonna cum, Daichi, I'm gonna cum—”

And he did. The vampire climaxed and the squeeze of his muscles brought Daichi to his own climax. He pulled out as his cock softened, pulling off the condom and tying it off before dropping it in the trash can aside his bag.

He collapse on the mattress next to Suga, curling himself against the vampire, who still panted. “I don't think about sex much, except as a tool,” Suga murmured to him, “But you just gave me something to miss.”

“I barely lasted,” Daichi said.

“Me neither,” Suga replied.

Daichi ran his finger through the ejaculate that Suga had spilled onto his stomach, making Suga shudder at the contact. “What even is this?” he asked. He was pretty sure vampires were sterile.

“Why should I know?” Suga muttered, and Daichi laughed and got up to find Suga some tissues.

_ xv _

Daichi woke up in the middle of his shift at the coffee shop.

Oops.

He decided to be really glad that Noya was also scheduled for today, because if he had to choose between his boss being pissed and Noya being pissed, he would choose Noya anyday.

He rolled over and grabbed his phone, and typed in Noya's number with shaky fingers.

The other barista answered after two rings.

“What the fuck?” He said by way of greeting Daichi.

“I'm sorry,” Daichi said. He hadn't actually thought of what he was going to say, so he came up with a lie instead, “I wasn't feeling well last night, but I thought I could sleep it off. Then I spent like half of the night throwing up and slept straight through my alarm. I'm gonna try and rest it off.”

“You may be sick, but I kind of hate you right now,” Noya said. “I gotta go. People are coming,” and then he hung up.

Well, at least Daichi didn't have to tell him he was skipping out on work after getting laid last night. That would be way worse.

“What's happening?” Suga muttered, stirred by Daichi's phone call.

“I'm skipping work,” Daichi said.

Suga laughed.

“Don't make fun of me,” Daichi said.

He swung his legs off the side of the bed and got up, groaning as he stretched out his arms and his back. He looked through the dresser before finding a pair of boxers to put on and a t-shirt.

“I'm gonna go eat breakfast,” he told Suga.

To this, the vampire mumbled “Okay,” his face already pressed into the pillow.

Daichi wandered into the living room and noticed that the blinds were open, streaming light into the room. On a normal day, he would like this, but barricading Suga in his room probably wasn't the best option. So he shut the blinds, and did the same in his kitchen.

He took a bowl out and filled it with cereal, then poured in some milk from the fridge.

As he ate, he thought about Kageyama. The other blood bag's diet was so bland and limited—Daichi remembered when they first met he did eat some meats and other foods, but it was very rare and apparently even then he still had issues with vomiting.

Daichi was nervous. The further Kageyama deteriorated, the more Daichi had to face his own future, and it was terrifying.

At first, when they'd started this, Daichi could ignore the fact that what he had engaged in was going to completely destroy him. Back then, it had been a remedy for an illness, but he began to realize what they hadn't told him—if he held out, the toxins would've been flushed from his body and he could go on with his life.

Or could he? Suga was fixated on him. Would the vampire just attack him again at some point, and maybe have killed him that second time?

It was stupid to think about this. What was done was done, and counting the degradation of his body was one thing, but Daichi had picked up another noose and slung it around his neck. He was just too emotionally involved with Suga now. He cared about him.

He finished his food and rinsed out the bowl, setting it in his sink. He went back to the bedroom and laid down on the bed again, and he pulled the blankets back over him and Suga, curling his body against the vampire, who was somewhere between awake and asleep, his eyes open but unfocused.

Suga threw his leg over Daichi and snuggled into him. Daichi held onto the comfort of his body even though Suga was even cooler now than he had been last night.

“Am I gonna be like Kageyama?” he murmured into Suga's skin, unsure if he really wanted the answer to his question.

“What?” Suga asked.

“Am I going to be like Kageyama?” Daichi repeated, closing his eyes so he wouldn't have to look the vampire in the face.

Suga reached out and caressed Daichi's cheek. “You will have to make your choice,” Suga replied. “Kageyama has already made his.”

“What do you mean?” Daichi asked, opening his eyes.

“Kageyama can't become a fledgling vampire now,” Suga said. “His body is too ruined, he can't take the change.”

“I don't get it,” Daichi said.

“Venom mostly upsets your digestive system, right?” Suga said.

“Yeah,” Daichi replied.

“When you become a fledgling vampire, you change your digestive system to handle blood instead of food,” Suga says. “While you're a fledgling, you have to keep feeding from your creator to slowly change the rest of your body into a vampire. That's why you need to have an adult vampire nearby.”

“Oh,” Daichi said, “But why is there a time limit?”

“Too much of Kageyama's digestive system has been targeted by now, probably. If we tried to change him, he'd just die from the strain.”

“How long do I get?” Daichi asked.

“Another month, maybe?” Suga said. “I don't want to pressure you into making your choice... it's a big one, I want you to think hard about it.”

“I want to be a vampire,” Daichi said.

“I want you to think about it more,” Suga said, and then he rolled over and jammed himself against the wall, trying not to touch Daichi at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Nine, Irreversible, *should* be available April 24th. 
> 
> Thank you everyone for your patience with my getting this chapter out.


	9. Irreversible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kageyama is in a lot of pain. Koushi convinces Hinata to do the right thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience and well wishes, everyone.
> 
> Tonight's chapter is posted pretty late. That's because Fire Emblem happened yesterday, and "working on my fucking story" didn't.
> 
> edit: 4/25/16 1:21am (fixed grammar/spelling errors that missed my first sweep)

_xvi_

Kageyama looked like a ghost, Daichi thought. His eyes were rimmed red, and he asked, “What's up, Daichi?” as he let Daichi in.

Daichi glanced at Kageyama's knobbly hands. It was as if all the moisture had been sucked from them and the skin clung thinly to the bones, highlighting the contours of his knuckles and joints like an artist or an old man.

“I cooked some food for you,” Daichi said, holding up a plastic bag that was stuffed with tupperware containing several different meals.

“What did you cook?” Kageyama asked, taking the bag from Daichi and looking inside.

“I made you some rice and veggies, some vegetable soup, and some pancakes,” Daichi said. “Should all be easy on your stomach.” He kicked off his shoes and set them aside by Kageyama's and Hinata's.

“Thank you,” Kageyama said, moving his hand under the bag to support it.

“What's up?” Hinata asked, appearing at the top of the stairs. He descended rubbing his eye, and the whisked the bag from Kageyama's hands.

Kageyama grabbed it back from him. “I want to put it away,” he declared, sauntering into the kitchen.

“It's heavy,” Hinata called back.

“It's not that bad!” Kageyama yelled, sounding a little strained.

Hinata sighed. “Thank you for cooking for him,” he told Daichi, “It means a lot to us.”

“No problem,” Daichi replied, “I worry about him, is all.”

“What do you mean?” Hinata asked him.

“Well, he's lost so much weight and all. He does look sickly.”

“Yeah...” Hinata muttered, and bit his lips, looking sad and strained.

“It's hard to see him in so much pain,” Daichi admitted. “I just want to help him.”

“You think it's hard watching him be in pain?” Hinata said, “Try being me.”

_xvii_

Daichi stared at the piece of paper he had printed off of his class's portal on the university website. It was three am. His exam began in six hours.

_The exam sheet will contain five essay questions based on the books we have read in class. Pick three of these questions and write a short essay as a response in the standard answer booklet that will be provided during the exam period._

Below that was a list of all the books that Daichi's class had read that year.

English Literature was Daichi's one elective, and he picked it because he liked it. It seemed he was about to eat his words, however. Looking at the list of books, he realized hadn't even touched the last third of them—they sat on the top of all the other things in Daichi's “do later” pile. He hadn't even been to English class in months—he'd remembered as he'd been trying to go to sleep that the exam was in the morning.

He'd tried to at least start to read the books. That hadn't worked. Then he tried to find Japanese reading guides for them, but had failed. So he opened up SparkNotes and had Google translated the notes and summaries into Japanese, but they hadn't made a lot of sense.

Suga stepped in through the front door. Daichi glanced up at him briefly, then went back to staring at the sheet and screaming internally.

“Daichi, why are you awake?” Suga said after he kicked off his shoes and hung his coat. “It's late,” he said.

“I have an exam tomorrow,” Daichi said.

“Have you studied?”

“No,” Daichi told him. He gripped the sheet tighter. His fingers tore one of the margins.

Suga walked over and slapped his laptop shut. Daichi jumped, and Suga winced at the slight cracking noise the machine made. “That is... more delicate than I thought,” he said evasively, then he turned to Daichi and said, “You need to go to bed. You can't learn anything this late at night. Just wake up in the morning and take the exam.”

“But...” Daichi said, feeling completely worn out and powerless.

“Just trust me,” Suga said, holding out his hand and looking sad. Daichi sighed and took his hand, getting up from his seat at his kitchen table.

They went into the bedroom and neither bothered to change before crawling into bed. Daichi curled up to Suga, and was glad Suga ignored his hot tears on his neck until he fell asleep.

Daichi's alarm went off at 8:30. He dragged himself out of bed and changed, and grabbed a pen, his phone, and a muffin. He put on his shoes and let himself out the door, locking it behind him and taking a bite out of his muffin as he began to walk towards his university.

Never in his life had Daichi felt less prepared for an exam.

He finished his muffin on his walk.

The feeling couldn't be described as panic. He knew he couldn't continue university anyways, and would have to drop out after finals. But still, walking into an exam he knew he was going to fail felt lousy.

He could just not show up, he thought. He was resigned to failure. He knew he would have to disappear when Suga changed him, so it wasn't like he could come back someday and finish his degree.

It didn't mean anything anymore.

But something just felt wrong about not showing up at all. And in a way he felt really guilty about missing his readings. He might as well punish himself.

He walked to school and to the huge gymnasium. Students were crammed in the hallways outside the doors, reviewing last minute notes and quizzing each other like what they did now might help them.

He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, and thought about death.

The doors of the auditorium let out a squeal as the exam proctors opened them. All the students who had been sitting on the floor jumped up and joined the stream of people who began flowing into the gymnasium. Daichi followed the person who'd been standing next to him, and once he got inside the gymnasium he bypassed the group of people heading to hang up their jackets and stow away their bags. His class's section was in the back right, so he walked to the back of the room and took a seat near the front of row 26. He set his student ID on the corner of his desk, turned his phone off and put it on the floor under his chair. He folded his arms on the desk and put his head down.

He may have drooled a little on the sheet with the fire procedure written on it.

Eventually, the exam began. He received an answer book and the sheet that contained the exam itself.

The first essay question he remembered the books from. He didn't remember them very _well_ , however. What the hell was The Bell Jar about anyways?

He roughed out a plan for his essay, then began to write. His wrist had already begun to hurt by the time he finished his introduction, so he set down his pencil and cracked his hand, then shook out the joint. His eyes wandered up to the roof of the gymnasium, and he stared at the rafters.

There was a soccer ball stuck in one of the rafters, pretty much directly above his head. Daichi was seized by a sudden fear of that ball falling on him from fifty feet high and taking him the fuck out in the middle of this exam.

He had to focus, he realized. He picked up his pen and continued to write. He realized his essay plan kind of sucked and didn't make much sense, so he abandoned it and just wrote whatever he wanted, ignoring the fact that he'd written a thesis already that depended on his original essay plan.

By the end of his third paragraph, he figured out that he'd written an essay that made no sense at all. Whatever.

He quickly summarized... whatever it was he'd just written and set down his pen again.

He noticed that some of the people who had been sitting around him before were gone.

He took a glance at the clock and realized that the exam had begun an hour and forty five minutes ago.

How had that happened?

He went back to the list of the other essay questions. He had no idea how to answer any of them.

Screw it. He grabbed his phone and his ID and gathered his exam paper and booklet, and brought them to the proctor. He signed out, then excused himself to the bathroom and cried.

_xviii_

The next day at work should've gone off without a hitch. But, his job had happily joined the list of things in his life that had become very complicated.

As he wiped the counter clean of espresso grounds, Daichi wondered how to deregister himself from university. Would he have to go to the registrar's office to formally withdraw? Could he do it online from the school's administration portal?

He'd completely flunked English Lit, and he had very little hope for how his computer science and math exams had gone. It was just so frustrating how his brain didn't seem to be working right anymore. The simplest tasks seemed to consume all of his brain power.

Just like this one. He noted with irritation that he'd managed to swipe the espresso dust onto his white shirt. Why did he stain all his work shirts anyways? Why was it so hard to get grounds out of them?

He was pretty sure he single handedly funded the owner's little merchandise corner buying work shirts, because in all his time working at the shop (a solid year) he'd only rung up one item from it for someone who wasn't a fellow employee.

He finished wiping down the counter and threw the rag in the bucket in the industrial sink. Somebody ordered a decaf latte and Noya called out the order to him, so he immediately set the beans to grind, filling up the shop with noise.

He finished up the order and set the cup on the counter. The customer thanked him and walked over to sit in the corner with their drink.

It was actually a relatively slow morning. They hadn't had much traffic coming in and out—mostly regulars who'd grabbed their drinks early in the morning on their way to work and the sort of regulars who bought a single drink then stay in the shop for two hours. There was an older man sitting in one of their nicer chairs, his empty coffee long since set aside as he continued to read his book. A young woman with messy hair and several empty coffees (Noya had dutifully refilled her) was typing away on a laptop.

Daichi had chatted with her several days ago, and learned that she was writing a master's thesis, and he had winced in sympathy.

He wondered what she would think of the exam he handed in yesterday.

He couldn't stop thinking about that damn exam. He didn't even care that much about the class, but he was so disappointed in himself. He expected better from himself—through out high school he'd been placed in college prep courses and he'd finished his first year of university with straight As. Never before had he so completely screwed up on something school related.

And it was all because he couldn't read some simple novels and take some time out of his day to review them later.

Noya leaned against the counter, having no particular customers to serve at the moment. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and texted Asahi (Daichi had been keeping track of their relationship status by the emojis in Asahi's contact on Noya's phone—it seemed Asahi had graduated to the puppy emoji), then looked at Daichi and asked, “So, how'd your exam go yesterday?”

“I don't want to talk about it,” Daichi replied.

“That bad, huh?” Noya poked, smiling a crooked smile as he locked his phone and dropped it in his pocket.

“I just said that I don't want to talk about it,” Daichi told him.

“Fine, whatever,” Noya said, “Sorry you got an eighty then, braniac.”

Daichi clenched his fist. “Can you just shut the fuck up?”

Noya frowned at him, and crossed his arms. “You know,” he said, “You used to be cool. But now you're just a dick, Daichi.”

_xix_

Koushi was stirred from rest by Daichi walking into the bedroom. Daichi's footsteps were heavy and he shut the door soundly, the strike clicking against the metal.

Koushi blinked and rolled over as Daichi rustled through his dresser. He took off his shirt first and threw it aside, and Koushi idly gazed at the defined muscles in his back until Daichi picked out a clean t-shirt and slipped it on.

Then he kicked off his pants until he was just in his boxers, and turned towards the bed.

“Oh,” Daichi said, “You're awake.”

“You were being a bit noisy,” Koushi said simply, stretching his body out and knocking his fists against the wall as he stretched out his arms.

“Crap,” Daichi said, frowning, “I'm sorry about that, I didn't want to wake you.”

Koushi smiled. “It's fine. Come cuddle. I would've woken up soon anyway, if you've just gotten back from class.”

“I didn't come back from class,” Daichi said, “I came back from a final.”

“Oh,” Koushi said, frowning. “How did that go?” he asked.

Daichi sat down on the edge of the bed and swung his legs on, lying down next to Koushi, who wrapped his arm around Daichi's shoulder and pulled Daichi to rest his head on his chest. “Lousy. They're all going lousy,” Daichi said, trying not to sound as frustrated as he felt. He closed his eyes and listened to the beat of Koushi's heart.

Koushi curled his fingers in Daichi's short hair and started to play with it. “I'm sorry,” he comforted him.

“Well, I'm not gonna finish college,” Daichi said, “So it's not like it matters.”

Koushi couldn't figure out what to say to that.

Daichi shifted his head to look at Koushi's face. “Suga,” he asked, “Have I changed?”

“Oh, Daichi,” Suga said. He shifted himself up into a sitting position and held onto Daichi, rubbing Daichi's back. He felt startlingly domestic, almost like a parent to a child as he held Daichi like this. He couldn't keep his voice from shaking as he said, “You're becoming more like me, Daichi.”

“I don't understand,” Daichi said, pulling his head from Koushi's chest. He stared Koushi in the eyes, making Koushi feel almost uncomfortable at the eye contact. He took Daichi's hand and curled his fingers in it, and closed his eyes.

“You used to be so much more trusting, I think,” he told Daichi, dropping his eyes to their hands, unable to meet Daichi's gaze. “You saw me in that alleyway and all you wanted to do was help me. You thought I was hungry so you fed me, you thought I was lonely so you talked to me. Now I've ruined you.”

“But why? Why would I change?” Daichi demanded, the softer edges of him fading away. He snatched his hand away from Koushi and curled them both into fists, balancing them on his knees.

Koushi swallowed as he met Daichi's gaze again. Daichi looked angry and impatient.

“You're under a lot of physical and emotional strain,” he told Daichi, “You're reacting to all of that. But you've also had to adapt to spending time with vampires.”

“I don't want to be a hothead!” Daichi said angrily, whipping his head away and glaring at the wall.

Koushi reached out and touched the curve of his cheek. “Daichi, you can be the person you want to be. Just calm down.”

Daichi grabbed Koushi's wrist and wrestled his arm away. “Don't tell me to calm down.”

“I'm sorry,” Koushi said.

He didn't know what to do, he didn't know how to help Daichi.

When he'd been a blood bag, the personality changes had helped him out. He'd developed his own kind of ruthlessness by imitation of Oikawa, and when the time had come to demand his own change, Koushi had felt no regrets at all as he cut the blade into Oikawa's skin and stole his blood. He'd been better at controlling his anger than Daichi was right now, but his personality was far more wrathful.

“Daichi,” Koushi said, “I don't know how to help, I'm sorry.”

“I hate being like this,” Daichi felt. “I feel so wrong. It's not me in my skin. I'm supposed to be studious and nice. Not an asshole who's flunking English.”

“Just let it out,” Koushi said, leaning closer to Daichi.

“Stop patronizing me!” Daichi growled, and he pulled his arm back and punched Koushi in the chest. Pain radiated from the spot, and Koushi automatically pressed his hand against the spot, taking a heavy breath.

Daichi seemed to snap out of all of it. “Oh my god, Suga, I'm sorry,” he said.

“You think you hurt me?” Koushi asked, taking another deep breath and dropping his hand. The spot where Daichi had hit seemed warmer than the rest of his body, and it oozed a dull pain. “I'll be fine,” he said.

“I'm awful,” Daichi said. “I'm an awful person.”

These mood swings Daichi was having were getting exhausting. Blood bags were a mistake, Koushi decided, as if he hadn't already been adamant about such a thing.

“Daichi, you're not you when you're pumped up on venom,” Koushi said. He took Daichi's hand that had hit him and gave it a squeeze. “Don't worry about it.”

“I've never actually hit someone like that before,” Daichi admitted, lifting his free hand and rubbing at the bottom of his eye.

“I figured,” Koushi said, “You weren't very good at it,” he joked. He lifted Daichi's hand, still clasped in a fist, and gingerly pulled his fingers apart and unfurled them. Daichi watched Koushi as he then kissed each knuckle.

“How can you be so nice after I did that?” Daichi asked. “I'd be pissed if you hit me.”

“Because I know who you really are,” Koushi said, “And because I know what I've done to you. I kind of deserve it.”

“You _don't_ deserve it.”

“Daichi, I'm a vampire and I've killed hundreds of people, and I'm killing you right now. I think I can take a punch,” Koushi said.

“I wish I wasn't like this,” Daichi said.

“The thing is,” Koushi said, “You're not. I admit your personality is changing a little... but if you get changed then you'll keep the core of your personality. The personality that I was so attracted to that made this all begin.”

“Why would you be so interested in me anyways? There's better people at the coffee shop.”

“You were kind to me for no reason,” Koushi said. “Even when I was trying to chase you away you were just so determined to interact with me, as if I needed some sort of love. Your blood was practically singing to me, but I just kept hanging out in that alley, knowing it was wrong, because I savored the time we were spending together so much.”

“Singing?”

“Daichi, I don't know if you'd call this a compliment, but you smell delicious,” Suga said. He leaned forward and sniffed Daichi's neck, mostly to demonstrate.

Daichi jumped and leaned away. “Yeah,” he agreed, “I'm not sure either if that's a compliment, or frightening.”

Koushi laughed. “It helped that you were hot, too.”

“Me? Hot?” Daichi said. “I'm not hot.”

Koushi couldn't help but to keep laughing. “Well, I hate to break it to you Daichi, but you are _so_ hot,” he purred, reaching forward to squeeze Daichi's thigh. “Even with the venom you're still somehow built. You would make a stunning vampire,” he told him, then leaned forward and licked Daichi's cheek.

“Stop being weird,” Daichi commented, blushing furiously.

“I'll stop being weird when you stop saying you're not hot,” Koushi told him. “Don't insult my taste.”

_xx_

Daichi didn't know where he was, but Koushi figured if Daichi had an issue with it he'd be able to figure out where Koushi was.

He stood by the door in Hinata's bedroom. The vampire sat on the bed, his hand caressing the human's cheeks, which had hollowed out and had developed sharper angles.

The human was fast asleep, his breath shallow and soft snores spilling from his lips. In sleep, he almost looked happy, but not even rest and full body relaxation could erase the darkness under his eyes or the unnatural chalky pallor his skin had taken.

“How much has he been sleeping?” Koushi asked Hinata.

Hinata bit his lip, brushing Kageyama's hair out of his eyes. “He's up maybe six hours a day? Not very mobile during that. I sleep like a rock, so he could be up during the day, but I'm not sure.”

“He's conserving energy, I guess,” Koushi said. He approached the bed, and squeezed Hinata's shoulder. “Let him rest,” Koushi said, “Let's go talk downstairs.”

“Okay, just a second,” Hinata said. Koushi dropped his hand and backed away. Hinata got up off bed and pulled the blankets over Kageyama, tucking him in. He leaned over him and kissed Kageyama's forehead.

Koushi turned away and opened the bedroom door. They both walked down the stairs, and once they got to the bottom Hinata burst into tears.

“This sucks!” Hinata yelled, and kicked his wall.

“I know, I know,” Koushi replied.

The images of all the blood bags Oikawa had kept while Koushi was maturing rushed forward to the front of his mind. Watching them slowly fade away had filled Koushi with sorrow, because against Oikawa's advice Koushi had befriended those transients in their household. Watching them die as shells of their former selves had filled Koushi with horror and revulsion as he had realized that that was supposed to be his fate.

But Kageyama was past the point of no return. If they tried to change him, he would just die anyways. But it was also a matter of respect—Kageyama didn't want to be a vampire, and Koushi and Hinata both knew better than to force it on someone else.

“It's just, he's supposed to be alive and moving around and sassing me but instead he just lies in bed all day, and even when he's awake he just stares at me,” Hinata sobbed. “It's like there's nothing left inside of him. I want to hold him but he has no interest in it.”

“Hinata,” Koushi said, “You and I both know that Kageyama is close to reaching the end of the rope.”

“Please don't remind me,” Hinata said, wiping away some of his tears, only to replace them as another jag of tears wracked his body.

Koushi hugged the younger vampire, holding him close. Hinata surged forward and sunk his teeth into Koushi's neck. Koushi's knees buckled and they both fell onto the stairs, but Hinata hung on for dear life and kept drinking.

Koushi was a little angry. He wanted Hinata to ask first. But at the same time, he knew that turning to the vampire who raised them was a normal behavior for vampires who were stressed. He also knew that Hinata had always been rather childish. However, he hadn't fed in a few days himself, and didn't really have much to spare.

He peeled Hinata off of himself, the blood freely oozing from the side of his neck as Koushi uncomfortably folded his body on the stairs.

“Hinata,” he said, “You need to calm down.”

Blood rolling down his chin, Hinata started to cry again. “I'm sorry,” he pleaded, “My feelings are just all over the place, and I was _so thirsty._ ”

“Have you stopped feeding from Kageyama?” Koushi asked.

“I stopped last week,” Hinata said, “I just couldn't do it anymore. It seemed wrong. But I'm still hooked on him so I can't hunt.”

“Hinata, that's even more evidence,” Koushi said, “Kageyama's time is up.” Oikawa had always stopped feeding from his blood bags a couple weeks before they actually passed.

“Don't tell me that,” Hinata pleaded.

“Look, I don't want to tell you that,” Koushi said, “But we need to think about what's good about Kageyama as well. If you really care about him, then you'll consider what's best for him.”

“Don't suggest I don't care about Tobio,” Hinata growled, “He means the world to me! You know that.”

“I'm not trying to insinuate anything,” Koushi said, “I'm just trying to help you understand. You don't remember what happened before you were changed, but I can tell you that reaching the end of the line as a blood bag is _hell_ , and I didn't even make it as far as Kageyama has.”

“So what can I do?” Hinata said. “All I see is both of us suffering.”

“Hinata,” Koushi said, “Kageyama is in pain. His head isn't working right, he has nothing left to do with himself, and his body is falling apart.”

“I know, I know all that!” Hinata yelled pulling at his hair. His cheeks were red and ruddy, and the skin beneath his eyes looked chapped and raw.

“What I'm saying,” Koushi elaborated, “Is what we need is to put him out of his misery.”

“So you want to kill my lover,” Hinata said.

“Hinata, the Kageyama you were in love with is gone,” Koushi said, “That part of him is already dead and locked away. The only thing he has left is suffering.”

Hinata choked out another sob. “I _hate_ this! Why did I have to pick him?”

“Hinata,” Koushi said, “You'll do him a mercy. We can do it painlessly,” he said.

“I know, I know.”

“All you need to do is cast your glamor and drink,” Koushi said. “Cast it as thick as you can so he doesn't even know. All he has to know is that he's safe, and with people who care about him. He'll go happy.”

“He'll go drugged beyond awareness on endorphins,” Hinata growled.

“I'm not trying to say there's a good option,” Koushi said, “But the only other one he has is to finish wasting away until his heart gives out, lost in his own pain and misery.”

“Why couldn't he do it? Why couldn't he just be a vampire?” Hinata cried out. “He's leaving me all alone! He told me he loved me too. Why is he doing this?”

Koushi ran his fingers through Hinata's hair. “Kageyama is kind at heart,” he said, “He doesn't want to spread death like us. He chose the less selfish option.”

Hinata choked out another sob. His throat sounded rough and ragged.

“Maybe we're the selfish ones,” Koushi sighed, looking at the floor. “Choosing to hunt over blood bags.”

“I will never get another blood bag,” Hinata vowed. “I don't care how many lives I ruin. I can't go through this again. I care about him too much.”

“Oikawa always tried to tell me that blood bags were better for the human race,” Koushi said, “Because less people were hurt in the end. But he didn't care about his blood bags at all. He just watched them die.”

“I think either way you go, being a vampire is hell,” Hinata said, his eyes glancing upstairs. “When I kill a random, I feel consumed in the guilt, but this is like my heart is being torn in two. We can't do anything right like this.”

“I know,” Koushi replied sadly, “I know.”

“I should've listened to you,” Hinata said. “I should've just killed him when he somehow woke up in my bed.”

“Then listen to me now,” Koushi told him. “It's only going to get worse from here. So listen to me, and give him a peaceful death.”

Hinata wiped his eyes, and gave Koushi a steely gaze. “Fine,” he said, “I'll do it.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Ten, Total Loss, will be published on May 1st.
> 
> As you may have noticed, the last few chapters have lacked comics. Maggie, the artist, has this note:
> 
> "Hey guys this is Maggie, I've been doing comic pages that went alongside TNOTG for the first couple of chapters, unfortunately I think I'm going to have to at the very least, take a break from making the comics. Thanks for you support for the pages I did create, and enjoy the rest of this beautiful fic <3"


	10. Total Loss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata helps Kageyama. Daichi gives Koushi his answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains semi-graphic descriptions of the handling of a corpse. If you may find this content upsetting, please skip the beginning of section 4 (xxiv).

_ xxi _

Koushi crept into Hinata's bedroom. It was dimly lit, and swelteringly hot.

“I'm sorry,” Hinata apologized as he descended onto the bed. “He's been getting fever's and chills on and off.”

“I understand,” Koushi replied, standing in the doorway, watching Hinata cradle Kageyama.

The human was thoroughly unconscious, and unresponsive. Hinata picked up a bottle of water and tipped it to Kageyama's lips, coaxing the human to let the fluids down his throat.

“We should do it soon,” Koushi said sadly, as he appraised the human's miserable condition.

“Tomorrow night,” Hinata said. “We can do it tomorrow night.”

“Okay,” Koushi said. “Spend your time with him, cherish it. I'm going to go get some rest at Daichi's,” he told him, and then crept out.

The visit was brief, but Hinata and Kageyama both deserved the alone time.

_ xxii _

Koushi woke when he heard the front door of Daichi's apartment open. He didn't take a minute to rouse himself—his eyes opened immediately and he easily sat up and glanced around the bedroom. It was dark and he was alone. He quickly turned on the lamp that sat on the table aside Daichi's bed.

Daichi's bed was narrow, and the mattress was so thin that he could feel the lumpy imperfections of the frame through it when Koushi lay down on his back. Then again, Daichi had a bed. Koushi definitely did not.

He swung his legs off the bed and stood up, taking a moment to stretch out the muscles of his back and adjust the boxers he borrowed from Daichi so that they sat correctly on his hips, then he opened the door and crept out. No light streamed in through the living room curtains. Koushi had discovered, to his disdain, that while Daichi had happily closed the curtains for him they weren't opaque and the windows couldn't be covered without drawing other attention.

Daichi stood in his kitchen, clutching a glass of water. He seemed to have been staring at it rather than drinking it.

“How was your day?” Koushi asked him.

Daichi just about jumped out of his skin. “Don't come in all quiet like that,” he said.

“I'll try to be less of a vampire.”

Daichi set down his cup. “Sorry,” he muttered. “When is Kageyama going to die?”

Koushi sighed. “Did you go there today?” he asked.

“I wanted to cook for him again,” Daichi said, “But he was unconscious and wouldn't wake up.”

“He hasn't really been... lucid at all, the last few days,” Koushi said.

“So he's near the end, then?” Daichi questioned him, a waver in his voice as his mouth was set in a tiny frown.

“Yes,” Koushi said sadly.

“How much longer?” Daichi asked nervously.

“Kageyama will die tomorrow,” Koushi said.

“Wait, what?” Daichi demanded, his eyes going wide. He slammed a fist down loudly on the cheap counter top. “You told me it was  _ slow _ .”

“Hinata and I have already come to an agreement,” Koushi said, wincing at how detached the words sounded. How was it even possible to phrase it kindly?

“What sort of agreement?” Daichi grumbled.

Koushi had a feeling the human could figure it out himself. “Hinata will drain Kageyama tomorrow. I am going to... supervise.”

“Do you mean like... literally drain him until there's no blood left?” Daichi said, sounding frightened. “Does Kageyama know?”

“No, he doesn't,” Koushi told him. “Hinata and I will both cast our glamors so that he won't realize what's happening. I'm probably mostly going to be the one maintaining it... It doesn't work as well when one is emotional.”

“But what about the blood?” Daichi pressed.

“We don't  _ really  _ drain the body,” Koushi admitted, wondering if the knowledge would make Daichi feel more or less secure. “Enough blood is taken so that the body is not capable of recovery, but the more you take the harder it is. He will die long before he is depleted.”

“How are you so—so,” Daichi struggled to find the word he wanted to use, “How are you so cool about this?” He sounded disgusted.

“I have to get Hinata through this. It is more merciful than letting him die slowly.” Koushi said, trying to keep patient and neutral. He didn't want to plead and beg Daichi for forgiveness—they may be killing Kageyama out of mercy, but there was no way for Daichi to see death as anything but death, and Koushi suspected that Daichi was still willfully ignorant of the fact that Koushi and Hinata both spread death wherever they went. “Hinata will have difficulty with the follow through,” he elaborated a little. “Once Kageyama loses any blood, if we stop, his pain will only worsen.”

“This is awful,” Daichi said, more to himself than Koushi.

“You care about him, don't you?” Koushi asked, not sure if he should touch the human, or maybe prompt him to sit.

“Of course I do,” Daichi said, sounding offended by the question. “If none of this ever happened, no, he's not the sort of person I would probably befriend. But he and I both are in this weird messed up reality with vampires, and he's the only person I know who gets it.”

“Oh,” Koushi said. But Daichi kept talking.

“Not to mention,” Daichi said, “That I've been watched him suffer this whole time. I feel bad too. But it’s also hard for me to lose someone I've seen so much of. I'm not like you and Hinata, where people appear in your life and then just disappear. Goodbyes on their own are hard for me,” he said, and then wiped the corner of his eye with the back of his hand.

Koushi had made a mess. He couldn't think of any good ways to fix it.

He offered the only thing he could.

“I'm going to leave and walk to Hinata's around four AM,” he told Daichi. “If you want, you can come as well and sit with us. We want Kageyama to be with familiar people. I think seeing you there would make him happy.”

“You want me to watch you guys kill my friend?” Daichi said, sounding horrified. “What the hell makes you think I would do that?”

“I was thinking it could help you find some closure. And like I said, we want Kageyama to be in comfort.”

“Closure, huh?” Daichi said, still sounding furious. “Here's some closure, get dressed and get the fuck out of my house.”

_ xxiii _

Koushi had let Daichi kick him to the curb. He didn't think it was going to be anything long term—although he could and would admit that he had messed up by offering to let the human sit in with them.

It was too emotionally taxing to ask that of Daichi.

Night hadn't really settled in yet. There were still lots of cars going by, and the restaurants and bars in town were crowded with people. Koushi had spent a long time in this tiny town—he felt like he knew it like the back of his hand now, yet there were so many places that closed before sundown that he had never stepped foot in, and never would.

He had never entered the coffee shop Daichi worked in, he thought belatedly. The shop was open past sundown, but why would he go to a coffee shop? It wasn't like he could even see Daichi then. Daichi worked exclusively morning shifts.

Koushi could go straight to Hinata's. It wasn't like he had anything to do with himself. Or, he could wait. Give Hinata a few more hours alone with Kageyama, like he deserved.

So Koushi wandered around a bit. He went to a bar and bought women drinks, blowing off their flirtations and trying to engage in actual conversations instead. Most of the women didn't really bite, and moved on quickly. He stayed until just before the bar closed, heading back to the street at 1:45 AM. Some of the streetlights were dimmed, and all the store fronts and restaurants were dark and empty.

He had nowhere to go, nothing to do.

So now he headed to Hinata's.

It was a short walk—everything seemed so close together in this town. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of Oikawa. Perhaps he had moved on to contact some other acquaintance. But Koushi was pretty sure that as long as he stayed in Japan, Oikawa would be back and he would be relentless. He wondered where he might like to go next? There wasn't much of the world that really felt foreign or distant to him anymore.

Perhaps he would go to Korea.

He thought perhaps he should pressure Hinata to move as well. Oikawa had tracked Hinata through him, and he didn't like the idea of Oikawa pestering his former fledgling, it made him feel protective and angry. He just wanted Hinata to be safe and to live in peace. He wondered if he could convince Hinata to come with him. Spending all this time with him, instead of just a short visit, had made Koushi feel reluctant to be without him again. He would miss him sorely them next they separated. The tug he felt towards his fledgling may become a noose around his neck.

He wondered if Daichi would be there.

He tried not to think to hard about Daichi's eventual fate. A sick part of him wanted to change Daichi, permission or not. But Koushi also knew that if he could go back in time, he'd shake his human self and beg him not to transform himself. Eternal life, he felt, was winding and directionless. He did not want Daichi to live such a bleak and meaningless existence.

But the idea of doing to Daichi what they were about to do to Kageyama made Koushi feel weak in the stomach.

He arrived at Hinata's home and knocked gently on the door. He waited on the stoop, and a few moments later the door creaked open. Hinata looked at him, sad and ashen, and said, “Come in.”

Koushi crossed the threshold and closed the door behind himself. “Thank you,” he told Hinata.

“I thought you weren't coming until later,” he said quietly.

“I can stay downstairs if you would like to spend some more time with him,” Koushi said as he took of his shoes.

Hinata bit his lip, and then answered, “No, we should do it now. Before I lose my nerve,” he said.

Hinata had died young, that they were certain of. His youthful appearance was usually trapped closer to adolescence and childhood than true adulthood, no matter how mature the vampire may have been. Tonight there was still some of him that seemed so childish and innocent. But overbearing that was a feeling of age and sadness—Koushi felt that looking at Hinata, he could see all ninety of the years he had known him.

“Okay,” Koushi said. The plan was he would have no real part of it—it didn't feel right. Kageyama would die at Hinata's hands. But he would guide them both through it.

They climbed the stairs and entered Hinata's bedroom. The lamp on his bed stand was turned on, casting the entire room in orange light. It was still swelteringly hot, however.

Kageyama lay under the covers, curled in a ball. When they entered he moved his head and then shifted his body, blinking to look at the pair of them. He asked groggily, “Why is Suga here?”

“We're going to try to make you feel better, Tobio,” Hinata answered sweetly, crawling onto the bed and cradling him.

Koushi sat down on the edge of the bed, and caught the nearly imperceptible nod from Hinata. He put his glamour to work—Hinata would take care of the pain, but Koushi was taking the harder job. He fiddled with Kageyama's consciousness, distracting him and pushing him towards peacefulness.

“Could you sit against the wall and support him?” Hinata asked as he pulled Kageyama into an upright position.

“Okay,” Koushi answered. Koushi wondered if under his own power Kageyama would be able to sit up right—he hadn't tried in a long time, certainly. But like this, under the power of two glamours, Kageyama definitely couldn't.

Koushi sat leaning against the wall, his lower back cushioned by all of Hinata's pillows. He helped Hinata haul Kageyama up to sit on his lap. Kageyama was taller than he, so Koushi rested his chin on Kageyama's shoulder and allowed him to lull his cheek against his hair. He wrapped his arms around Kageyama's lower stomach to keep him in place.

Kageyama's skin felt chill, even to Koushi, who had not fed in several days. He could feel some of his bones protruding. It was a sad contrast to Daichi, who's body was toned and stocky.

“I'm not sure if I can do this,” Hinata said, looking at Koushi.

Kageyama answered before Koushi could. “Of course you can, dumb ass,” he murmured, happily unaware of what was really happening, “You can do everything.”

That seemed to be what Hinata needed. He fit himself in comfortably, and sunk his teeth into Kageyama's neck, beginning to drink quickly. Kageyama gasped, registering the intrusion, and closed his eyes.

Koushi moved his left hand from Kageyama's stomach to rub Hinata's back as he drank. The vampire did not drink slowly as they would usually prefer. He drew his fangs from the wound in order to draw blood more quickly and without obstruction, taking heavy, heaping gulps.

Kageyama quickly fell unconscious, his body falling slack against Koushi. His breathing began to slow.

Hinata pulled himself away from Kageyama's neck to take a deep and heavy breath. It was more difficult to draw blood the closer one got to death, and Kageyama would be no exception. But the speed at which Hinata fed was doubly exhausting.

Hinata glanced up at Koushi, looking sad. His entire chin was covered in drying blood. He rubbed his fist against it, but it did him no good. “I can’t do this,” he said.

“You already are,” Koushi replied.

“No, no, I... I don't think I can finish it,” Hinata said, sitting back on his haunches.

Koushi listened to Kageyama's pulse. It was still steady, but it was slow and weak. “I think you've done enough,” he said, “It'll take a few hours, but if you open the cut a bit more he'll bleed out. He's lost too much to recover it by now.”

“No, no,” Hinata protested, “I don't want him to wake up, this is what it was like last time...” he cried.

“Would you like me to finish?” Koushi asked him, feeling sad as he watched Hinata's tears well over.

“Yes,” the younger said, with hardly any thought put on the matter.

Koushi already held Kageyama's lax body at a decent angle to bite him. He moved his head a little and fit his jaw around his neck, and then bit down through the skin. Kageyama's blood didn't well over nearly so heavily as a bite should from that spot, and Koushi took that as a good sign.

Hinata held onto Kageyama as Koushi drank, showering kisses upon him.

Kageyama's blood was weak and ill. Koushi found himself wondering what it tasted like when Kageyama was healthy and vibrant and filled with life.

His draws became more and more tedious. The natural welling of blood from Kageyama's heartbeat slowed, and slowed... until finally Koushi recognized it coming to a stop.

He pulled away. Hinata looked at him with recognition, and then as Koushi eased Kageyama off his lap Hinata pressed his ear to Kageyama's chest.

“He's dead,” Hinata announced, as if Koushi didn't know himself, and then began to sob.

Koushi held his former fledgling tight, letting his tears soak through his shirt and listening to him scream in misery.

_ xxiv _

Hinata's withdrawals began to kick in the evening after Kageyama had died.

The original plan for the disposal of Kageyama's corpse was for Hinata to drive them out of town, and for Koushi to bury him in an unmarked grave. They'd even already decided where they were going to do it.

“Why the fuck do you think I'm gonna help you put him in the ground?” Koushi did not think the plan was going to work out. Hinata had snarled at him angrily when Koushi had approached him asking to get going.

Koushi was nervous. He could drive okay, but not very well. Kageyama was big as well—he would need assistance with the body, but the more time went by the harder the job would become.

“We agreed on this,” he reminded Hinata.

“I'm not doing it!” Hinata growled, crossing his arms and glaring at Koushi.

Koushi counted to three in his head. He'd seen Oikawa go through withdrawals when he was a fledgling after a blood bag had died, and it always brought out a more vicious side of him. He got over it as soon as he found a new blood bag, however.

Hinata was not going to do that, though. So Koushi had no idea how long Hinata would be like this. “Hinata, I can't do it alone,” he said.

“I said no!”

Koushi was trying to come up with another argument when he heard a knock on the door. He moved to the living room window and peeked through the curtains to see that Daichi stood on the deck.

“Get him to help you,” Hinata growled, and then stalked up the stairs.

Koushi sighed, and walked to the front door, opening it for his own blood bag. “Hello,” he greeted, knowing that he sounded exhausted.

“Is he...?” Daichi asked, stepping over the threshold.

“Yes,” Koushi confirmed.

“Oh...” Daichi said, frowning as he took off his jacket.

“He died peacefully, in no pain,” Koushi told Daichi, his voice low. He backed up against the staircase to give the human some distance.

“How's Hinata doing?” Daichi asked.

“Not well,” Koushi sighed. “He's beginning to go through withdrawals, since he was fixated on Kageyama. All that on top of his grief.”

“Yikes,” Daichi said.

Koushi decided to ignore their previous fight, and Daichi seemed to be fighting not to bring it up himself. Koushi knew he was poking a sleeping dragon, but he asked, “Daichi, do you know how to drive?”

“Yeah,” Daichi said, “I got licensed last summer. I just don't have a car.”

“I need to ask a favor of you,” Koushi sighed.

“A favor?”

“We need to bury Kageyama,” Koushi said, heaving a long sigh. “Hinata and I had a spot picked that we were going to do tonight,” he told him, “But Hinata has refused to do his end. I need help... lifting him, and I'm not a very good driver.”

He wasn't expecting Daichi to agree, but he did. “Fine,” Daichi said, “I'll help you.”

“We should get it done, then,” Koushi said. He led Daichi into the living room, then opened the door to the narrow staircase that led downstairs to Hinata's small dug out basement. At the end of the stairs Koushi pulled the string to turn on the light.

Hinata didn't have much use of his basement. There were a few boxes stored that were labeled by the decade, and lying in the corner was Kageyama's body.

Koushi had arranged Kageyama to lie in a fetal position before rigor mortis had set in. Even before Kageyama's body had stiffened, dead weight was still dead weight and it had been an upsetting thing to do. Koushi had already wrapped Kageyama's body in a dark plastic bag, he didn't think anyone needed to see it like this.

“I need your help to get him to the car,” Koushi instructed Daichi, “I already have the keys.”

They kneeled over the wrapped body, and carefully lifted it together. The dark plastic could hide the appearance of death, but it did not hide the feeling of the corpse itself. Koushi's hands supported his shoulders and head, while Daichi must've felt the ridges of Kageyama's legs, folded together.

They carefully maneuvered up the narrow staircase. Koushi led him out through the backyard to the tiny garage, and prayed that Hinata didn't have any nosy neighbors.

They turned on the garage lights, and with some maneuvering they got the trunk of Hinata's old car open. They placed the body on the carpeted floor of the trunk, and then Koushi spread a large blanket he'd taken from Hinata's bed over it.

They turned the garage lights off and opened the door, and Koushi handed Daichi the keys, and said, “Well, let’s get going.”

They were silent as they climbed in and Daichi started Hinata's car, which rumbled unhappily at having been started up for the first time in several weeks.

Daichi drove out the garage and up the narrow driveway that spit them out into the street.

“So, where are we going?” he asked Koushi.

“Start by getting on Sekiyama Highway,” Koushi told him.

Daichi nodded and slowly navigated towards the nearest entrance.

He asked quietly as they got on the highway, “Is it going to... start smelling?” He asked nervously.

“It's been about 18 hours since Kageyama died,” Koushi told him stiffly, “So putrefaction shouldn't have begun yet.”

“Okay,” Daichi said.

They were both solemn as Koushi navigated them off the highway, and onto a narrow mountain road. It was dark and they were long past the lights of the towns and cities, so the only light was the light of the moon and the yellow headlights.

Once they got there, Koushi told Daichi, “Do a three point and pull over on the other side.”

Daichi nodded and did as Koushi asked. The vampire unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the car, taking the shovel he'd stowed in the back earlier. He began to search for a good spot to dig, before finally finding a spot about twelve feet beyond the initial tree line.

Daichi unsteadily carried Kageyama, now wrapped in the blanket out to where Koushi had begun to dig. He set the body on the ground and sat beside the hole that Koushi dug, hardly able to see anything at all. The only things that stood out to him where the glints of Koushi's eyes and the dull metal of the shovel itself.

“Do you want me to help?” he asked once Koushi had dug about two feet deep, and was panting pretty heavily.

“I have,” he breathed out, “Superhuman endurance. This is fine,” and then he set back out to digging, and Daichi shrugged his shoulders as Koushi kept going.

Once the hole was about four feet deep, Koushi threw aside the shovel.

“Set the blanket inside the hole,” he told Daichi.

Daichi nodded and did as Koushi told him, catching his drift. He held the sides of the blanket up.

Koushi took to the black plastic and ripped a hole in it, then tugged on the tear until the bag came entirely undone around Kageyama's body.

His skin felt waxy, and the top of his body was stiff and cold. As Koushi wrapped his arms around him he registered that the blood had fallen to the areas of his body that he had laid upon. He was carefully not to disturb the skin too much.

Daichi shut his eyes as Koushi lay Kageyama's body down, a single tear falling down his cheek and dripping off his chin onto Kageyama's shoulder. He wrapped the sides of the blanket over him, and pinned them shut over his body. He threw the plastic bag into the edge of the grave by Kageyama’s feet, so he wouldn’t have to dispose of it somewhere else.

Koushi let out a choked sob, and rubbed his eyes as he couldn't help but to cry. Daichi was crying silently as he stared at the blanket that covered the corpse. Koushi climbed from the hole and held onto Daichi, crying into the human's hair until he felt heavy enough to stand again. He lifted his body and took the shovel, and began to shovel the displaced dirt back upon the body. Daichi sat cross legged and watched him do it again.

Koushi watched the blanket disappear under the loose dirt and wondered what he could have done differently.

Once he filled the hole again he stamped the dirt hard and evened out the top. Daichi placed a pile of loose stones atop it, ones Koushi hadn't even known he'd collected.

“You're not going to do this to me, Koushi,” he said.

“You mean?” Koushi asked.

“I'm not messing around this time,” Daichi said, “I'm telling you that I want to become a vampire. I can't stand the thought of you and Hinata coming here, and doing this to me.”

“How quickly can you get your affairs in order?” Koushi asked.

“A week, I guess,” Daichi said.

“Then I will change you into a vampire in a week,” Koushi said. He looked at the sky, and then said, “Let's go home.”

_ xxv _

_ 'Are you sure you wish to withdraw from university?' _

Below the question was a yes/no toggle, then a short statement that warned him that this decision would take effect immediately, and it could only be reversed through payment of a ten thousand yen reimbursement fee.

Without a second of hesitation, Daichi clicked yes.

So that was it, he thought when the screen turned white except for the blue banner on top. A single line of text rolled across the screen. ' _ You are successfully withdrawn. _ '

Daichi wasn't a university student anymore.

It was weird, he thought, how easy it was just like that to quit school.

The next two big ones: quit his job and move out of his apartment. He'd already finished his lease, and was going month to month. However, he was supposed to give his landlord sixty days warning before moving out.

Suga had gotten him around that problem by giving him the money to pay for those two months of rent.

His job he wasn't so sure about. It was appropriate to give a week’s notice, but two days had already gone by and he hadn't called his boss yet.

Suga told him the less abrupt his disappearance was, the better. The more loose ends he could tie up, the safer they both would be.

Daichi picked up the phone and dialed his boss.

“Hello Sawamura, what's up?” Ukai said, once he picked up.

“Hey,” Daichi said, “I understand that we're supposed to give more notice, but I won't be able to come in again after Wednesday. I'm sorry.”

“Well,” Ukai said, “This puts me in a spot, but I'll respect it. Can I ask why?”

“Family stuff,” Daichi said.

“Oh,” Ukai said. “Understood. I'll come see you while you're on duty tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” Daichi said. “Bye.”

“Goodbye.”

Daichi hung up and rested his head in his palm. The lie about his family had made Ukai stop dead in his tracks.

His family... Would his family come calling, he wondered?

Daichi was in university on scholarship (which he would've lost had he continued after this term) and paid his own rent and living expenses.

He looked at his phone, scanning through his call history to find the last time his parents or sister had called him.

It was nearly three months ago.

Did he have to tell his family?

No, he decided.

END OF ACT TWO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter eleven, Nerves, will be published on May 8th.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed Act Two, and I am thankful for everyone who’s stuck it out this far. 
> 
> This story has had a lot more response than I really expected, given that is a rather macabre and sad story for a pairing that is usually delegated to "tooth rotting fluff".
> 
> I am stunned that I have received nearly 200 kudos, over 50 bookmarks, and over 2500 hits.
> 
> I am looking forward to writing Act Three, and sharing it with everyone. Thank you for your support.


	11. Nerves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koushi and Daichi prepare for Daichi to be turned. Oikawa meets Koushi and Hinata again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh... well, it's a Sunday.

ACT THREE

_i_

Koushi quit Daichi cold turkey.

It was a pain. The desire to drink seemed so strong, but only when he was around Daichi.

He tried hunting, he did. But there was no appeal at all. Blood thumped hot under men and women's skin but the only blood he had an appetite for flowed in Daichi's veins. Blood from another was as insubstantial as water to him—it flowed down his throat but did nothing to sate his hunger.

Between him and Hinata, things were bad enough.

“Can you be quiet, please?” Hinata grumbled as he lumbered down his stairs and glared at Koushi.

Koushi set the book down on his chest and glanced up from where he lay on the couch to Hinata's head, hanging over the railing of the staircase. “I'm not sure what you want me to stop doing.”

“I could hear you making noise from in my room,” Hinata snapped, giving him a sour look.

“I'm reading a book,” Koushi protested.

Hinata jumped over the railing and planted his feet on the arm of the couch, directly on either side of Koushi's head. Koushi reflexively placed his hands on his temples, and stared up at Hinata. “Do you have to do that?” he seethed.

Hinata crouched and plucked Koushi's book from his chest and slammed it shut, losing Koushi's place. “Do you have to be so loud?” he asked insolently.

Koushi shot up and glared at his former fledgling. “I wasn't doing anything.” he said irritation building up. “I was doing the quietest activity possible besides staring at the wall.”

Both vampires were quickly distracted from their squabble by the noise of the door opening. They stiffened with aggression, Hinata raising his shoulders and dropping his mouth to show off his fangs as Daichi stumbled into the house, carrying a presumably heavy box that seemed to be close to splitting at the seams.

“What?” Daichi asked, kicking the door shut behind himself.

He didn't bother to take his shoes off, and Koushi and Hinata's gazes followed him as he crossed the living room and fumbled with the door to the basement. “What?” he said again, more frustrated this time as he grimaced and pulled on the door knob.

“Nothing,” Koushi said.

Once he disappeared through the doorway, Hinata asked, “What's he doing bringing all that stuff here? We're going to leave anyways, he can't take it all with him then.”

“I can hear you!” Daichi shouted from the basement. They heard a thump, and Koushi presumed he'd dropped the box on the floor. “It's not like I can leave it at my apartment after I move out!”

Koushi sighed as he heard the stairs creak with Daichi's ascent. He tried to calm himself down, but it was hard—thirst made him irritable. Daichi came through the basement door, and said, “Can one of you help me out? This crap is heavy.”

“I can't,” Koushi replied quickly, pushing Hinata off himself.

Hinata tumbled to the ground and scowled at Koushi, then gave Daichi another look, and said, “Fine.”

“Why won't you help?” Daichi asked, sounding frustrated. He crossed his arms and gave Koushi a dirty look of his own.

“You're sweaty and you smell good,” Koushi grumbled, “Sorry for trying not to drink your blood,” he added sarcastically.

Daichi grimaced at him, but seemed to decide not to pursue it further, instead he grabbing Hinata's wrist and tugged him towards the door to help with his various belongings.

Koushi groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to calm himself down. He knew he was acting irrational with the others, but he couldn't help it, and he knew he was acting like Hinata did on his worst days.

Koushi went into the kitchen and filled a glass of water and chugged it. It filled his stomach but ultimately was insubstantial, as it did nothing to combat his thirst and still left him ravenous. Less than a week, he reminded himself.

He remembered Oikawa had drank his blood soon after his awakening, and had told him grudgingly that it broke down his fixation to do so.

In a few days he could do that himself, and stop feeling like this. The trick was making it through those few more days, without killing Daichi or Hinata. Or being killed by one of them.

_ii_

Daichi stared at the pile of boxes that sat on Hinata's basement floor. These were all of his remaining belongings—pieces of clothing, his books, and some mementos.

Really, Daichi hadn't brought all that much. He'd left nearly all of his furniture at the apartment, along with things like cutlery and linen for the next tenant to do with as they would. He'd told his landlord some bull about moving in with a girlfriend in another city to explain himself.

He turned around as he heard the stairs whine under the weight of someone's feet. He was going to blow his lid if Hinata complained about his stuff again. But it wasn't Hinata, it turned out to be Suga who stood on the top stair and looked at Daichi and his things.

“That was the last trip, right?” Suga asked him.

“Yes,” Daichi said with a sigh. “I am officially moved out of my apartment.”

“Congratulations,” Suga said dryly.

“Don't act like it's not big deal,” Daichi snapped, “You can't exactly call yourself helpful. You didn't do anything.”

“I apologize,” Suga said in the tone that Daichi had come to know meant that Suga didn't actually care, but didn't want Daichi to keep being angry.

Daichi knew he was kind of running a short fuse today, and he knew he shouldn't take it out on both Hinata and Suga, who were suffering themselves, but it was hard when he was stressed out and all they did was make snippy comments at him, and each other.

Daichi turned and walked up the stairs. They both stepped out onto Hinata's living room, and then Suga glanced at the door to Hinata's backyard, and wordlessly led them both through it onto the deck.

They sat down at the table, and Suga said, “So. Three more days.”

“Three more days of being human,” Daichi said quietly.

“Do not get it confused,” Suga told him, “Three more days until you die.”

“How can you say you're dead?” Daichi asked. “Your heart beats. You walk and talk. You're alive.”

“But I am nothing like the human I used to be,” Suga said. “The human I once was died when I was born. You will became something else in three days... and the human you are now will be dead once that happens.”

“So... what is going to happen?” Daichi asked.

“You will drink my blood,” Suga told him bluntly, “And you will be tormented. It will be like the pain from when I first drank from you all over again.” He traced his finger down Daichi's throat, and to his stomach. “First, only your digestive system will change.” Daichi tried not to shiver under Suga's touch. Suga splayed his fingers across Daichi's tummy, and said, “That will be the only... abrupt change. Your body will accept only blood after that. For a few years you will feed mainly from me, with a little supplement from humans, until you are fully changed.”

“That's it?” Daichi asked.

Suga closed his eyes and drew his hand away. “While you are a fledgling, you will continue to age. You will be... very attached to me. If we are somehow separated, it will torment you.”

“I don't understand.”

“It is like a child to their mother... I will be your life line. You are fortunate that you like me. I despised Oikawa, but I needed him. Hinata was abandoned, and thus I was his only choice.”

“What's it like?” Daichi finally asked.

“Eternal life is purposeless,” Suga told him bluntly, looking up at the stars as he said it. “But I am a coward. I think this life is still better than death.”

“Is there anyway to die?” Daichi asked.

“I hope you do not become suicidal after a few decades,” Suga said, “I would miss you terribly.”

“You didn't answer the question,” Daichi pointed out.

“There are ways to die, yes. If you did not feed you would eventually starve, but that is not an easy thing to accomplish. If you stay out in direct sun too long, you will develop sunsickness and you may not be able to recover. And of course, you can be killed.”

“Is it hard?”

“To be killed?” Suga laughed. “You say that as if I have experience.”

“Well?”

Suga let out a heavy breath, and Daichi rolled his eyes. Suga's main talent seemed to be avoiding his questions, sometimes. “It depends who you fight. A gun could take me out just as easily as you, with a well aimed shot. A human would be a weak opponent hand-to-hand, we simply have better reflexes and don't tire as quickly. A vampire could kill you though, if they were to attack you. Some vampires are inherently stronger than others, and you will be weaker than usual if you have not recently fed.”

“Have you ever been in fights?”

“I prefer to just do whatever is wanted of me and get out of the situation,” Suga said, “and that's what I would want you to do too.”

“I guess.”

“How do you feel about this?”

“It's just... it's very weird. I had a little bit of a life plan and stuff, but I've thrown it all on the wayside.”

“Well,” Suga said, shifting in his seat and gazing at the stars above him, “In some ways it is very freeing. You can see the world. You won't need to worry about work, or your health.”

“I think that sounds nice,” Daichi said. Then he too looked at the stars. “Do your human memories get fuzzy?” he asked.

“All memories fade with age,” Suga told him, reaching across the table to touch Daichi's hand. “I do not remember much about my family, or my childhood, but I did not often ponder those memories, and I do not think much of them now.”

“Oh.”

“But I remember every second of my confinement with Oikawa,” Suga said, “Because I have agonized over those memories and used them to drive my hate. It only depends how often you may think of them.”

“I guess I get it,” Daichi said.

“Are you worried about forgetting your family?” Suga probed.

“It's not really that, I guess,” Daichi replied, “I don't feel very close to them. But it makes me uncomfortable to think I could forget everything I've ever known.”

“If you will forget," Suga said, "It will only be because there will be so much more to know,” Suga told him, and Daichi could tell he knew it made a very weak consolation.

_iii_

Koushi leaned against the bar, and ordered two beers. Hinata stood next to him, his arms folded against his chest as he glared at every other dancer in the club.

Seeing Hinata glare like that felt unnatural—Hinata was usually radiant, or determined. He rarely saw him angry, although he understood that Hinata had a lot going on.

They were both finicky and angry going through the throes of withdrawal, and they had no idea when it would stop.

The bartender passed Koushi the two glass bottles, and Koushi handed over the cash and tipped him generously. He handed Hinata a beer for Hinata's part in this little charade, and then dragged Hinata over to the wall by the elbow, freeing up the space at the bar. It was a Friday night and while it wasn't the liveliest night club Koushi had ever been to, it was sufficiently full of people.

“Go dance with someone,” Koushi prodded Hianta.

“Why don't _you_?” Hinata returned with a glare. The younger vampire tipped his beer bottle, swishing around the liquid inside. He sniffed it delicately, and then grimaced, his nose wrinkling and his eyebrows drawing together. “This stuff is disgusting,” he muttered. “I don't get humans.”

“You don't remember being one,” Koushi said, rolling his eyes. “I'm trying to make sure you feed,” he told him, “Since you won't do it of your own accord.”

“Okay fine,” Hinata grumbled, shoving his beer into Koushi's free hand. “I'll try.”

Hinata sauntered into the crowd and disappeared, and Koushi leaned against the cool wall, holding the two beers by the necks of the bottles in both of his hands. He closed his eyes as the thumping music shook the wall and his skull too.

He knew he ought to be following his own advice.

If he could stick it out three more days he could start to naturally break down the damn fixation. But Hinata had no such choice.

Koushi looked around the club and tried to convince himself to dance, but as he glanced back to the bar he caught sight of brown hair and a pair of maroon eyes that he knew all too well.

He muttered, “Dammit,” and deposited the beers on the floor and threw himself into the crowd trying to find Hinata. It took him a few minutes of searching, and his panicked heightened knowing that Oikawa was looking for them again.

He concentrated very hard on his tug towards Hinata, and finally located Hinata grinding with some girl. He grabbed Hinata's forearm, and yelled in his ear, “We have to get out of here!”

“Why? I almost had her!” Hinata protested as Koushi dragged him out of the crowd and towards the staircase.

“Oikawa is here.” Koushi told him.

Hinata cursed and immediately sped up to easily keep pace with Koushi. They walked straight past the coat check and outdoors. It was a strange escape from the relentless music inside, that was now muffled by the door and thick walls.

Koushi shivered only a little with the chill of the night air. “Do you remember how to get to the train station from here?” he asked Hinata.

“Uh, I don't know,” Hinata said, “I'll have to check my phone...”

Koushi kept a firm hand on Hinata's hand pushing him along as Hinata tried to pull up his map, but he froze when he felt a hand grip his shoulder. Beside him, Hinata too stopped moving and hunched his shoulder, and pressed the button that turned off the display on his phone.

“You're so eager to get away from me, Koushi,” Oikawa taunted.

“You're so eager to find me,” Koushi returned, turning and pulling Oikawa's hand off his shoulder with more force than necessary. “You can't seem to understand that no matter how much you harass me, my answer is not going to change.”

“I just happen to find it rather peculiar,” Oikawa replied, “That the two nomadic vampires who are finally settling down, as they're supposed to, want nothing to do with something that'll make their lives easier.”

“There is nothing wrong with Shiratorizawa,” Hinata piped up, even as he retreated to stand safely behind Koushi.

“It's nice to see you again too, you stray.”

“You're ignoring my point,” Hinata said, building up a bit more courage, “Shiratorizawa is running our country just fine. This is a peaceful and good place for vampires to live. You're just being selfish.”

“I'm sorry, stray,” Oikawa replied, “But maybe I should remind you that you broke Shiratorizawa's rules? How do you know they're not going to come for you next?”

“What do you mean he broke the rules?” Koushi said, reaching out to grab Hinata's wrist and gripping it tightly, a wave of protectiveness washing over him as Oikawa threatened his former fledgling.

“I didn't report Kageyama,” Hinata said quietly.

“Yes,” Oikawa said, “Shiratorizawa wants to know who our blood bags are,” he grinned, and said, “It's a bit of annoyance, having to go to Tokyo every time you get a new one. Don't you agree, stray?”

“Don't call him that,” Koushi growled.

“It doesn't matter,” Hinata muttered.

“So, when the current one bites it, are you going to report the new one?” Oikawa asked him, “They'll surely figure it out if you do it twice.”

“Shut _up!_ ” Hinata suddenly yelled, throwing himself at Oikawa, his patience run out and bubbling into rage.

Koushi grabbed him, stopping his lunge as the vampire flashed his fangs at Oikawa. “Get out of here!” Koushi barked at Oikawa, who actually looked slightly spooked by Hinata's outburst.

Koushi had a vague inkling of stray vampires being thought to have a lot of strength, although he didn't believe it. Hinata was a formidable thing though, his strength greatly outbalancing his size. To his credit, Oikawa ran away, probably not having expected an actual fight.

Oikawa was not a fighter.

That actually meant neither of the three of them really were.

Oikawa was a strategist. He made up for the lack of brute strength with quick, calculated attacks, and by surrounding himself with beefier company. Koushi had not picked up either of those traits.

“Why are you stopping me!” Hinata howled, trying to get himself out of Koushi's grip.

“Because you're weak as hell right now, and will lose a fight like this!” Koushi hissed into his ear, grappling them both to the ground so he could hold Hinata down easier.

The younger vampire began to scream like a child, pounding his fists into the pavement and squirming, his rage for now seemed unabated.

Koushi would wait it out.

Anything to keep Hinata safe and his heart beating next to him.

_iv_

When Daichi woke up from his nap the next evening, Hinata and Suga were both a bit sullen. Suga seemed stressed and strained, wandering into the kitchen as Daichi fried himself an egg.

Suga watched Daichi cook, his eyes open wide but seeming as if the lids were heavy. He had dark circles under his eyes, and Daichi at first tried to ignore his stare and the uncomfortable silence, but he finally asked, “What are you and Hinata all glum about?” as he plated his meager meal.

“We're licking our wounds, I suppose,” Suga replied, “Our plan, or, well, my plan to have a meal last night didn't exactly work out.”

“What happened?” Daichi asked, grabbing a fork from the drawer and sitting down at Hinata's kitchen table, and Suga sat down as well, his gaze still fixated upon Daichi's hands as Daichi turned the fork over in his fingers and began to eat.

“Suga's jerk of a creator came and talked shit about Tobio,” Hinata yelled from upstairs.

Suga frowned and glanced up at the ceiling, cocking his head, and said, “We did have a run in with my maker, yes.”

“How did he even know Tobio was around?” Hinata yelled, and Daichi heard him noisily going down the stairs.

“Inference, I think?” Suga replied. “It makes sense if he was watching your house. You only left for like an hour at a time, and when you did come back it would be with groceries.”

Hinata glared.

“Not exactly the activities of a vampire who's actively hunting,” Suga said with a shrug.

Daichi suddenly felt as if he had a hard time eating.

“I get it,” Hinata sighed. “I just... I really don't want to risk running in with Shiratorizawa. And that low blow at Tobio...”

“I know it's hard,” Suga said, frowning, “But he will exploit that weakness if we run into him again. He just doesn't connect with his blood bags.”

“Why is he so persistent?” Daichi asked. “Why won't he just leave us alone?” He set aside his fork, no longer feeling hungry at all.

“After last night,” Suga said, “I think he's trying to drive me away, and not actually recruit me now.”

“Why? It doesn't make sense,” Daichi replied.

“If's he's really going to try to pull of his grand coup,” Suga said, “He's going to want me out of the way. Having a former fledgling like me is a liability for his reputation. Shiratorizawa knows I exist now, but he doesn't want me to have a chance of ruining the deal with whatever idiots he's actually recrutiing.”

“Who do you even know in Japan?” Hinata asked. “You've visited like twice since you raised me.”

Suga thought about it. “You, of course,” he said, tilting his head at Hinata. “Oikawa and Iwaizumi, his companion. I sort of know Kuroo and Kozume, in Tokyo.”

“Oh,” Hinata said, “I remember them.”

“But still,” Suga sighed, “He can't monitor me all the time. So I think the most likely explanation is that he's trying to drive me away, because he doesn't know who I know or what I might do.”

“I guess it makes sense,” Hinata said.

“I think that we need to come up with a more long term plan... for after Daichi is changed,” Suga said. “I do think it would be best for me and Daichi to leave Japan,” he looked at Hinata, “and I think you should come with us. I don't want you to be alone here after all of this.”

“I don't think I can be alone like I was right now,” Hinata said quietly. “I don't want to go back to that solitude again.” He finally walked over to the table and sat down, folding his arms over the hardwood and ducking his head a little.

“Well, we can't be nomadic while Daichi's a fledgling, at least not entirely,” Suga said, rubbing his chin. Daichi felt rather out of depth through this whole conversation. “I was actually thinking about going to Korea next. We could disappear in Seoul alright.”

“Do you know if Seoul is organized?” Hinata asked him.

“Well, I haven't been there in forty years,” Suga conceded, “But there were several covens stuck in dead lock with each other, and it had been like that for a long time. Nothing like Shiratorizawa exists in Korea.”

“That seems so strange to me.”

“I think it is too hard for groups like that to exist, usually,” Suga said. “Shiratorizawa has been in control of Japan for... just about forever, I think, but usually in other places super groups like them tear themselves apart from the inside.”

“I see,” Hinata said. “So we won't have any trouble with hunting or anything, unless we infringe on someone's territory. But I don't think it'll be that big of a problem—Seoul is so big they'd have trouble tracking us, and I don't we'd run into them at all in the first place.”

“I agree,” Suga said.

“When would all this be happening?” Daichi said, feeling slightly nervous. He couldn't speak a word of Korean.

“Hmm,” Hinata said thoughtfully, touching a finger to his chin.

“Hinata would probably have to go there first and secure us a place to live,” Suga said. “Plus, we'd have to get you fake documents to get you out of the country. And I want you at least three months in before we do any traveling.”

“So we have a three months until we move to Korea?” Daichi said.

“About that,” Suga told him.

Daichi wondered if Suga was ignoring his panic, or just didn't notice.

_v_

After more squabbling over Korea and the making of actual plans, to Daichi's chagrin, Hinata decided to go out and try hunting again without Suga.

Daichi cleaned up the mess he'd made trying to eat some food, and put everything away in the cupboard.

He missed eating with someone else.

He pushed all the chairs back into the table, the task seeming very important at that moment. He climbed up the stairs, and saw that Suga was lying on the oversized couch that had become their impromptu bed.

Daichi climbed onto the couch and squeezed in tight next to Suga, nudging his chin on Suga's shoulder, and said, “Hey.”

“Hello,” Suga replied, turning over and leaning against the back of the couch so Daichi could scoot closer and not lie so precariously close to the edge. He tried to relax into Daichi's touch, and he asked, “Are you still okay about tomorrow?”

“Never been better,” Daichi replied, as he clumsily reoriented his body to throw a leg over Suga's side. Suga seemed to get the idea, so he turned to lie on his back. Daichi pulled himself over him, straddling Suga's hips and leaning close. “Hey,” he said again.

Maybe Suga thought about saying hello again, but Daichi figured he'd never find out because Suga wrapped his hand around the back of Daichi's head instead and pulled him down to kiss him.

Suga's lips were always so soft and plump. He seemed to kiss him in an undemanding way, which Daichi took as urging to escalate it himself.

Daichi leaned into the kiss and eased their mouths open, but was careful to avoid the sharply pointed fangs.

When Suga broke the kiss, he asked, “Really?”

“What?” Daichi responded, sitting up. He leaned back down and kissed the corner of Suga's mouth, then moved along Suga's jawline, laving and leaving behind wet kisses until he moved to suck on the side of Suga's neck, trying to leave a mark.

The vampire squirmed a little bit, adjusting his position. “Mmm,” Suga said, moving his neck away. “You're going to spend two years there anyway,” he said grudgingly, “I'd like to keep it clean just one day more.”

“You don't want to do anything, do you?” Daichi asked. He sat back up.

Daichi understood that Suga saw sex as more of a tool than something to be done for just the sake of it. But if there was anyone he could attest it to, he would attest that the worst part of having an undead boyfriend was the complete lack of a libido.

“It's not that,” Suga said, “I just don't get why _you_ want to. I kind of think you should rest.”

“But I want to fool around,” Daichi complained.

“Yeah, but why?” Suga said.

“You realize I'm a twenty year old guy, right?” Daichi said. Suga just looked at him expectantly. “Fine,” he finally said. “I want to have sex one more time before I 'die',” he said, making air quotes with his fingers.

Suga snorted.

“Don't laugh at me!” Daichi said.

“You know your nerve endings will still work when you're a vampire?” Suga said.

“Yeah,” Daichi said sheepishly. “Think of it like a bucket list thing.”

“But I know for a fact that you've had sex before,” Suga said, “and quite a few times, at least.”

“ _Suga_ ,” Daichi complained, punching his boyfriend softly in the chest. Suga didn't even bother to pretend to look a little upset.

“Fine,” Suga conceded, “I guess I'll just accept that this is one of your human things.”

“Too late,” Daichi said, with a pout.

“You confuse me, you know?” Suga said.

“Well,” Daichi said, “What were you thinking about before you became a vampire?”

“Mostly a mad desire to not die,” Suga said.

“Did you ever have a girlfriend or anything when you were human?” Daichi asked him, settling his head on Suga's chest.

The vampire sighed, lifting Daichi's head with his chest as he took a deep breath. “No,” he said, “I'm afraid I was a sweet, pure, obedient boy until I was kidnapped.”

“Then I guess... Oikawa...” Daichi said.

“Yes,” Suga replied. The vampire lifted a hand and combed his fingers through Daichi's hair then ruffled it, and Daichi shut his eyes at the feeling of the gentle pressure.

“I'm sorry,” Daichi said.

“You weren't even a thought in anyone's mind at the time,” Suga told him sweetly. He took another deep breath, and then he told Daichi, “Look, I know things seem bad and scary right now... but I will do everything in my power to make sure you are safe and happy. Forever.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I'm still a little unhappy with this but I'm glad I got it here.
> 
> Let's just say there's this big ugly clusterfuck that's masquerading as "my life".
> 
> Chapter Twelve is Life Ending. I have a lot going on now, but it'll be here on a Sunday. Hopefully one that's soon.
> 
> Let me know if there's any egregious typos. I gave it two run throughs, but honestly I'm kind of dead and probably missed stuff.


	12. Life Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Koushi turns Daichi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](http://tinypic.com?ref=sncwzl)  
> 

 

 

 

_vi_

Koushi paced around Hinata's kitchen, broadcasting his nervousness to him. “What if something goes wrong?” he said. “It's not like I've done this before!”

“Chill out,” Hinata complained. “Cut yourself, shove your wrist in his mouth, he drinks. It's not that complicated.”

“What, like you've done it before?” Koushi fired back.

“No,” Hinata said, “But it's literally the simplest thing that we've done in like, weeks. He wants it. Nothing's going to go wrong because there's nothing to go wrong.”

“But what if he's been poisoned too much?” Koushi worried. “If he has been the blood will just like... destroy his stomach, and he'll die in enormous pain. Or something.”

“He's not been that badly poisoned,” Hinata said, “You've only had him for about three months.”

“I know, it's just...” Koushi said, but then he faltered, and looked at the stairs, just in time to see Daichi descending.

“What's up? Daichi asked.

“Nothing,” Koushi said quickly.

“Okay. Um,” Daichi looked around the kitchen, quite evidently believing that there was something wrong, “I just woke up. Should I eat something before we do this?” he asked.

“No,” Koushi said, “Probably not. The more you drink the faster you can change, I think.”

“You sure?” Daichi asked, then glanced at the fridge again.

“No, I'm just guessing,” Koushi said.

“You probably shouldn't eat anything,” Hinata said, “I bet you'll throw up if you do, and that would be a mess.”

“Yeah,” Koushi agreed, “That might happen. That would be awful.”

“Okay, no food then,” Daichi said, then looked awkwardly between the two of them. “So, are we going to do it now?” he asked.

“I guess so,” Koushi said, “There's really no point in postponing it anymore.”

“Okay...” Daichi said nervously, then looked at his shoes.

“Let's go upstairs to my bed,” Hinata said, “I don't want to have to move you while you're already changing.”

“That's a good point,” Koushi agreed, then looped his hand around Daichi's wrist and started walking towards the stairs. “Let's just do it.”

“Alright,” Daichi said. Koushi led him up the stairs, a hand resting on Daichi's back, Hinata following behind, trying to hide his own nervousness as he held a short but sharp kitchen knife.

Hinata shut the door behind them as Koushi and Daichi sat on the bed. Daichi had begun to sweat, a little bit of sheen collecting atop his eyebrows.

Koushi couldn't help but to swipe his hand over it then cup Daichi's cheek. “You'll be fine,” he said, “It's not that bad.”

“I know,” Daichi said, “But I can't pretend to not be scared as I totally give up my own life.”

Koushi bit his lip. “I know,” he echoed.

“Here,” Hinata said, passing him the knife. It was a short thing, one of the one's that Daichi had used to cut up fruits like apples.

“It might be strange at first,” Koushi warned Daichi, “But just keep going.”

“Got it,” Daichi replied, cradling Koushi's left wrist in his hands.

Koushi pulled his arm away and raised it, then the knife in the other hand, and made a single long cut across his wrist. Pain bloomed from the cut and dispersed itself through the surrounding skin.

Eager not to waste, Koushi thrust his arm into Daichi's face and jammed his narrow wrist into his mouth. It seemed an awkward fit for the human, Koushi could see the tension in his muscles to keep his mouth open at that angle, and he could feel the human's short blunt teeth digging into the tender skin of his arm.

Koushi felt the sensation of a tug as Daichi gently shifted to get himself to a better fit, the muscles in his throat working as he drank. It was a strange feeling, Koushi thought, unlike how it felt when Hinata fed off him because there still was this edge of hesitation and unwillingness in Daichi.

Koushi watched him with heavy lidded eyes as the human's own eyes fluttered shut as he worked to pull Koushi's blood from his body—it was so easy to tell that Daichi had never done this before when he watched the human struggle to collect blood between draws.

“Daichi, stop,” Koushi said, running his other hand through the human's hair, “I'm going to make a new cut. This one's going dry.”

Daichi didn't respond, so Koushi had to wrench his arm away, watching a few feeble droplets of blood well up from the cut.

He picked the knife up again, and noticed only then that Hinata had left them alone. In a way, Koushi appreciated the privacy to be alone with Daichi through this experience.

Daichi looked at him with dazed, vacant eyes, his head tilted a little to the side. Koushi laughed and commented, “Blood makes you stupid, Daichi,” and the human grunted in response.

He made another cut, this one a little deeper, and set the knife aside once more as Daichi surged forward to take his hand, the hesitation having melted away and a hunger setting in. Daichi's pulls were harder and longer now, and Koushi could help but let out some hisses of pain at a few.

But slowly, the strength in the pulls began to bleed away as Daichi sagged more beside him, his body seeming to grow heavy as his stomach filled.

Koushi pulled his arm away and the human's head knocked gently on his shoulder, a line of red drool running from his lip to the sheets.

Koushi pushed gently on his jaw and said, “Don't do that, it's rude.”

Daichi murmured something, but his hand sluggishly lifted and wiped the drool from his chin.

“Go to sleep, Daichi,” Koushi told him, and pressed the human back against the pillows.

Koushi hoped he would sleep through the worst of the pain.

_vii_

It felt like a pull. Daichi's vision, if he tried to open his eyes, was consumed by red. When he shut them the red darkened to maroon, then the color of dried blood, and then faded entirely to black.

He wasn't sure when this had begun—perhaps he'd spent his entire existence in this turbulence, and perhaps he'd never exit it.

“He's too hot.”

“Give him some water.”

Daichi relaxed into someone's hold as his head was tipped back and his jaw was gently pulled open, a cool stream of water dripping between his lips, although some of it missed and it cascaded down his chin and then across his jawline.

“Daichi, can you hear me?”

His body felt entirely too heavy to stay afloat—he gasped and tried to move but found himself paralyzed.

“Don't let him hurt himself.”

He let himself be submerged.

He knew his heart was beating all to quick, his breath was too shallow.

Someone was touching him. It wasn't Suga, they were bonier and smaller, their fingers were thinner and more calloused as their fingers pressed against his pulse point.

He heard a squeak, and he struggled to open his eyes and react to the noise.

“I think he's waking up,” a voice said from somewhere above his head.

“Poor thing,” Suga replied.

“He slept for like, five hours,” Hinata said, “That's pretty good.”

Daichi slowly blinked and stared at the ceiling, trying to lift his arm. He couldn't, it felt heavy like lead.

“Daichi, you're awake,” Suga said calmly, pushing Hinata's hand away from Daichi's neck to run his own hand along Daichi's jawline. “Blink twice if you can understand me.”

It took a little determination, but Daichi blinked twice and let his eyes lock upon Suga, who was leaning over him, one of his hand's planted on the mattress to maintain his balance.

God, Suga was beautiful, Daichi thought, noticing the way his hair was hanging over his head. He wanted badly to touch it.

“Can you talk?” Suga asked him.

Daichi tried to say, “I think,” but all he could get out was a hoarse, painful cough. It was like his throat had lit up like a match, and he was thrown into a fit of violent coughs.

“Hinata, more water!” Suga said worriedly, and the younger vampire appeared with a water bottle. Suga fit it between Daichi's lips and squeezed, letting loose a steady stream of water that Daichi quickly swallowed.

Daichi's eyelids grew heavy again, and he closed his eyes. The light was all too bright anyways. The water bottle was pulled away from him.

“Will he be alright?”

“I imagine it takes a lot of energy to cough like that.”

Maybe it was a hand that ruffled his hair, then, or maybe it was a wave.

_viii_

Daichi jerked violently, as a red hot surge of pain traveled up his arm from his hand. He'd woken up again an hour ago, and felt far more awake now—his brain didn't feel foggy or battered anymore, but he had a hard time on focusing on anything but the pain that came and departed, only to come back stronger each time.

From Suga's explanation, it seemed like it would be mostly his core in pain—he was only supposed to be changing his digestive system, right? But the pain ebbed and flowed throughout his body, flaring at his extremities and forcing him to convulse against his will as his muscles expanded and contracted in response to the pain.

“You're almost there,” Suga said, running a hand through his hair. The vampire lay on the bed next to Daichi, watching him with weary eyes. Daichi had hit him a few times in his convulsions, but Suga hadn't even flinched, not even a blip of pain or irritation crossing his face.

The pain didn't seem to fade yet, but it did seem to concentrate. It was like the pain was slowly leeching from his hands and feet back up his arms and legs, growing stronger but covering less distance. His hands and feet felt numb in it's absence.

The red hot sensation travelled up and back into his core, finally concentrating entirely in his stomach. It was agony, Daichi felt himself begin to sweat as he curled protectively around his stomach, laboriously lifting his arms and crossing them over his belly as he hitched up his knees.

He let out a moan of pain, closing his eyes. Suga caressed his cheek, silent. Daichi tried to focus on the sound of Suga's breath, to ignore the growing ringing in his ears.

Then—it was as if all the pain was somehow shrinking, converging at a single point in side of him, it was sharp and focused—and then it dissipated like a shock wave as Daichi let out a yelp of pain.

So it was over. He lay on the bed, breathing hard, wondering if the pain was going to rebound back on him, but instead he felt numb, cold, and empty.

He pulled himself up and looked around the room, taking shallow, quick breaths, clenching the bed sheets in his hands.

“You made it,” Suga said, his voice quiet and smooth like velvet. The bed shifted under them as Suga pushed himself up and embraced his new fledgling. Daichi meant to just press his cheek against the crook of Suga's neck, but his instincts took over and his teeth sunk into the skin of Suga's neck instead. The skin parted for him like butter, and it was easy to draw Suga's blood into his mouth.

It was probably about the most satisfying thing he'd ever tasted. How could rich meats and decadent sweets ever compare with this? He fixed his teeth in deeper, pulled harder.

The older vampire's grip on him didn't soften, in fact it only grew tighter, Suga's hand rested forcefully on his back, making him feel warm and secure with him.

He heard the door open, but didn't hear it—it was like he was hearing noise from several rooms away.

“Is everything alright—”

“Just let us be, please,” Suga said, his voice sounding just a little strained.

The door closed and that sound seemed a lot more real to Daichi.

He finally managed to pull himself away, looking up and gazing into Suga's eyes.

Suga smiled a little, then wiped at Daichi's chin with his hand, removing a considerable amount of blood.

“It's okay,” Suga told him, “You'll get better with time.”

_ix_

Daichi had begun to grow accustomed to feeling strange all the time. He felt a certain detachment to his own body at times, he had trouble falling asleep and sometimes he wondered if this was what it was like to be a newborn child who had no idea what their body functions were, what all these feelings meant.

He suddenly really understood why babies cry.

He began to get up and around the house more. He often listened to Hinata and Suga discuss him, but did not really offer his own opinion. He felt like he knew nothing about himself and what he needed now, because his whole body was constantly confusing.

“I think we should mix human blood into his diet soon,” Hinata said one night as they all had gathered in his living room, Suga and Daichi huddled on the couch and Hinata sitting in his arm chair. “It'll ground him a little more.”

“I'm not sure,” Suga said, “Mixing human blood in would mean taking him out of the house. I don't know if he's ready to handle that kind of stimulation yet.”

“What do you think, Daichi? Do you want to go out?” Hinata asked him quizzically. Suga sent Hinata a look.

Daichi mulled the question over in his head.

“I... don't know,” he said.

“I could've told you that would be his answer,” Suga bit out, rolling his eyes at Hinata.

Daichi suddenly felt a surge of anger. “I'm not stupid now,” he snarled.

Both Suga and Hinata looked alarmed by his outburst, their own squabble buried as they glanced quickly at each other. “I didn't mean to imply that at all,” Suga began to say.

“Don't act like you understood everything when you woke up like this,” Daichi said, “Don't pretend you knew exactly what your body and your brain were trying to tell you.”

“Daichi, we're sorry,” Hinata said, not mincing words. “We just want to help you... and it's not like anyone ever properly taught us this.”

“Honestly,” Suga said, “I'm surprised Hinata survived being my fledgling, and that I didn't somehow kill him.”

“Me too,” Hinata muttered.

“Hey,” Suga said, “You're the one who didn't want to leave for years after you were totally matured. And the one that _still_ feeds from me when you're nervous, even though its been like, eighty years.”

“What we're trying to say,” Hinata said, quickly steering the conversation away, “Is that we're kind of clueless, just like you.”

“Okay,” Daichi said, and then he looked at the ceiling.

It was a new, and strange life. He glanced at Hinata, who was now looking at a newspaper quietly.

Daichi knew not to even think of bringing it up, but he noticed that ever since he'd been changed, Hinata looked sad whenever he looked at him.

_x_

Koushi couldn't help but feel a little proud whenever he looked at his new fledgling. It was a strange sort of feeling, and not one that he'd experienced when he'd taken Hinata under his wing all those years ago.

He could _tell_ that Daichi was going to be a strong vampire someday. While he and Hinata were both perfectly adequate, Koushi had been deprived often by Oikawa as a fledgling, and he was not sure if he had ever been _enough_ for Hinata, or just a simple surrogate in the lack of his true creator as Hinata had developed.

But Daichi—Daichi had all the makings of something amazing. He had been a rather strong human, and Koushi made sure Daichi had all the blood that he needed to develop properly. He just knew that Daichi was going to be fantastically strong, a force to be reckoned with, and it excited him.

Even so, Koushi knew he was a little clueless on how to properly raise a fledgling. He'd never paid attention, and everything with Hinata was a little touch and go—until he and Hinata had already settled into their routine, Koushi had worried every night that he would wake up and the fledging would have vanished, or that the fledgling would be lying stiff beside him, having passed away at some point in the night.

He tried often to think back about what Oikawa had done for him, but his memories from that time were foggy—he did not often ponder them and thus much had been forgotten.

He remembered that Oikawa had broken his fixation though.

It was sick—Daichi was a fledgling—but Suga was still fixated on him, and couldn't tempt himself with some other human's blood.

Suga knew if he let himself get any weaker, he couldn't offer Daichi the proper nutrients to develop, because his own blood would be too weak. He had to break his fixation—he had to remember how Oikawa had done it! This wasn't a hurtle he'd suffered with Hinata.

The question plagued him as he and Daichi fell asleep together on Hinata's old couch. It'd been a week since he'd changed Daichi, and Suga knew he was growing weak. He tortured himself over it, but couldn't find the answer, and finally fell asleep, holding Daichi close.

It felt like it'd barely been minutes when Daichi was waking him to feed. Daichi's teeth scraped his neck as Koushi flickered into consciousness.

Koushi rubbed Daichi's back, giving his fledgling permission to bite him, and once the quick jolt of pain had passed—Koushi realized the answer.

Oikawa had bit him! That's how he'd done it! Drinking Koushi's vampire blood had broken down the fixation, because it meant that Koushi was no longer prey.

It made so much sense, when Koushi thought about it.

Koushi turned the revelation over and over in his head as he waited for Daichi to finish feeding. When his fledgling _finally_ pulled away (it couldn't have been any longer than usual, could it?), Suga smiled and ruffled Daichi's hair. His fledgling pulled himself closer, not really seeming ready to face the day yet—wanting to cuddle instead.

“Daichi,” Koushi said, “I know how to fix my fixation.”

“How, Suga?” Daichi asked.

“Let me bite you again,” Koushi said.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU SO MUCH, to everyone who has been patient and came back for this chapter--I know it probably seems like I was dead but it means the world to me if you kept going even after the major dick move I just pulled.
> 
> Thank you for sticking with me, I'll try to get chapter 13, Consequences of Selfishness, up soon.


	13. Consequences of Selfishness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oikawa shows up at Hinata's home with Iwaizumi. With no humans left in the dwelling, Hinata lets them in.

_xi_

“Let me bite you again,” Suga said to Daichi.

Daichi was confused. Trying to shake the fogginess that came from drinking blood from his head, Daichi asked Suga, “Why? I don't understand.”

“I remembered,” Suga said, “That Oikawa broke his fixation on me by drinking my blood when I was his fledgling,” he went on, “It's how Oikawa quit thinking of me as prey, and began thinking of me as a fellow vampire.”

“Oh,” Daichi said, a little puzzled about it still. “I guess... That makes sense.”

“So can I bite you?” Suga asked Daichi.

“Yes,” Daichi said, “I guess you can.”

“Don't sound so sure about it,” Suga teased, pushing Daichi's chin with the tips of his fingers and gazing into his eyes.

“Hey, the whole world's throwing me for a loop right now,” Daichi said, “Don't make fun of me, Suga.”

“I know,” Suga said, “But you're just awfully cute.” He leaned in and pecked Daichi quickly. “I love you, Daichi,” he said.

“Well?” Daichi replied, “Are you gonna bite me, or not?”

“So eager now,” Suga teased again, but then he quit teasing and surged forward to bite Daichi at the junction of his neck and his shoulders, his teeth quickly digging through Daichi's skin and cutting deep into an artery. Daichi gasped, feeling his first true pain since he'd finished his transformation. He gripped the back of Suga's shirt, and felt some of the seams pop from the force he'd grabbed and pulled at them with.

Suga did not take more than a couple draws of blood before he was already pulling away, the cut still bleeding sluggishly, the blood beginning to seep into the fabric of Daichi's shirt and stain it. Suga let his mouth gape, a red line of drool dripping from one of his fangs onto Daichi's chest.

“Suga,” Daichi said, “That's fucking gross.” Suga stuck out his tongue and spit on Daichi. “Ugh!” Daichi exclaimed, “You're nasty! Worst boyfriend ever.” Suga laughed and leaned back, straddling Daichi's hips.

He wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his shirt and said, “I couldn't help myself.”

“Apparently you're just like, five hundred years too old for manners,” Daichi sneered.

“Hey!” Suga said, “I am _not_ five hundred years old!”

“Well, until you tell me how old you are, you are,” Daichi said, sticking his tongue out at the other vampire.

“Well, that's not very polite of you either,” Suga replied, “But you still don't get to find out how old I am, so too bad for you!”

Their playful ribbing was suddenly interrupted by a strong, forceful knock on Hinata's front door. Daichi froze in shock, while Suga whipped around to stare at the source of the noise. Where Suga had been relaxed and gleeful before, now every muscle in his body seemed to be flexed and wrought with tension. A moment later, there was another heavy knock. Daichi winced at the noise—it seemed to resonate through out his body, every time he heard the banging on the door he quivered, afraid of the vampire who stood on the other side.

Hinata rushed noisily down the stairs, his jaw clenched in a snarl that showed off all his pearly white teeth. “Why won't he just leave us alone?!” Hinata growled, his face curled with uncharacteristic anger.

Suga got off the couch and said, “I didn't even realize he was approaching the house.”

“I didn't even wake up until the first knock,” Hinata replied, and then he looked at Suga and noticed the blood on his sleeves, and the blood that was just... all over Daichi. “Ew,” Hinata said, “What the hell were you guys doing?”

“I was breaking my fixation on Daichi,” Suga said smoothly, grinning at his former fledgling.

“Yeah, he was,” Daichi said, “And then he decided to be a third grader and drool blood all over me.”

Hinata laughed, but he was cut off very suddenly by another knock on the door. “Fuck off Oikawa!” Hinata burst out, his agitation building up. “We're not going to answer the door! Go bother someone else!”

Oikawa only answered Hinata's taunts by knocking once again.

“Hinata,” Suga said, “Don't bait him like that,” he told him, “I've been trying, it just makes him even more determined to get his way.”

“Why doesn't he get it?” Hinata said. “How has he not gotten it through his head that we aren't going to join his clause? How has he not figured out that we want nothing to do with it? I want him to leave us alone!”

Then, Hinata suddenly burst into tears. Daichi finally sat up, his movements still a little groggy, from feeding and having been fed upon. He was startled by yet another knock on the door, and then his temper flared hotly. He wanted so badly to open up the door and to deck Oikawa, to put him in his place and to tell him to never come back—“Daichi, what are you doing?” Suga said, his voice alarmed.

Daichi realized that he had gotten up off the couch, and suddenly he was afraid. It felt like something had taken him over, compelled him to get up and walk towards the door. But nothing had taken hold of him, he was not possessed. He had only been so angry that he had stopped thinking rationally, that he had somehow forgotten that he was just a fledgling whose body was still almost entirely human, and compared to Oikawa, a centuries old vampire, he was weak.

“I'm not sure,” Daichi told Suga. He then turned to Hinata, who was furiously wiping away his tears, looking frustrated for having begun to cry in the first place. “Hinata,” Daichi said, “Please don't cry,” and then he hugged him, pulling the other vampire close.

Hinata clung to his contact, pressing his face against Daichi's chest and his fingers digging into Daichi's back, the strength behind it almost painful. Daichi wondered if he would bruise like this, there was so much he didn't know about his body right now.

“Your shirt is covered in blood,” Hinata whispered, his voice slightly muffled against Daichi's chest.

“I know,” Daichi replied, “You can blame Suga for that.”

“I do,” Hinata muttered.

_xii_

“We need to think rationally about how we're going to approach this problem,” Koushi said, having gathered Hinata and Daichi around Hinata's kitchen table. It had been a few hours since Oikawa had taken up his post, and he had finally ceased his knocking only about fifteen minutes before. From the best that he and Hinata could tell, Oikawa was no where in the vicinity of the house, and must have gone somewhere else to seek refuge from the daylight.

“He's just going to keep going, isn't he?” Hinata said sourly, curling his lip.

“We need to confront him,” Koushi said, “But we also need to think of some sort of contingency plan.”

“What do you mean, confront him?” Hinata said.

Koushi glanced at Daichi, who was suspiciously quiet. Koushi didn't know how to deal with this new side of Daichi. As a fledgling now, Daichi was technically an equal in their little group. But Koushi was also unquestionably the leader of the three of them, as Daichi was currently and Hinata had been before his fledgling. Yet, in his inexperience Daichi seemed to never offer up his own opinions, yet he also had outbursts when he felt as though his feelings weren't being considered. Koushi wanted to tread carefully on the subject, because he didn't want to upset the fledgling and cause further discord.

He didn't need to cause any more problems in their little group when Oikawa was already doing just fine at that on his own. Yet, it was hard not to upset Daichi because it was hard to consider the feelings and opinions of someone when they wouldn't tell you what they were.

Careful waters.

“What I mean is,” Koushi said, “Daichi isn't as much of the weak link anymore,” he announced. “There are no more humans in this house, we don't need to protect anyone whose completely defenseless against Oikawa as we did before. So...”

Hinata interrupted him. “Are you saying we should open the door for him?” He gaped. “Have you gone crazy Suga? Tell me.”

“I don't think it's that crazy,” Koushi said. “I think part of the reason he was being so relentless was because he knew I had a blood bag, and he was hoping he could catch him and use him as some kind of bargaining chip to get my cooperation back for his plan. But now Daichi's not a blood bag anymore, so that option doesn't exist for Oikawa anymore.”

“So you think he would realize he was running out of cards to play if you showed him that kidnapping Daichi isn't an option in the same way anymore?”

“Yeah,” Koushi replied.

“Well, he's still _weak_ ,” Hinata said, “It's not like he's a full vampire. His body is still pretty much human, just a bit more carnivorous now.”

“Didn't you see Daichi last night?” Koushi said.

“I saw him covered in your drool,” Hinata said.

Koushi rolled his eyes. “When you started crying,” he told Hinata, and then he turned to Daichi. “That made you angry, didn't it?” he said.

“I—I was angry, yes,” Daichi said, his eyes averted from Koushi, as if he were staring at a particularly interesting bit of floor.

“Your anger just took you over, right? You didn't realize what was happening until I stopped you,” Koushi prompted him. He wished Daichi would look at him. Did Daichi feel guilty about getting angry like that?

“I did, yes.”

“Daichi, is something wrong?” Koushi asked.

“I'm scared,” Daichi said, “I'm scared that I reacted like that. What if I had hurt you when you spoke to me, instead of snapping out of it?”

“Daichi, don't be scared of it,” Koushi said. “Being angry gave you power—it gave you a will to be strong and to fight. You shouldn't be afraid that you react like that because not a lot of vampires do... and those who do are very powerful.”

“Are you like that?” Daichi said.

“Well, no,” Koushi said, “And fledglings generally don't do that, especially fledglings who are only a week or two old. There might not be much power behind you yet, but the fact that you are already having those reactions is.... phenomenal.”

“So I'm a berserker,” Daichi said flatly, not sounding impressed at all.

“Honestly Daichi, I don't get why you're trying to spin this in a bad light,” Koushi sighed. “It's a gift, and something that will help keep you safe.”

“I don't want to be like that. I don't want to lose control just because something pissed me off.”

Koushi sighed again, frustrated that they weren't seeing each other from the same angle at all on this. Koushi had always wanted to be one of those vampires who could become angry and make things just happen as their will—it was a gift. Iwaizumi was like that. Koushi thought back to a vague memory of being a fledgling, when some seedy, starving vampire had gone hunting on Oikawa and Iwaizumi's territory. He had remembered hunting that vampire down with Iwaizumi, and when they had found the pathetic creature Iwaizumi had raged and beaten it, leaving it in such a condition it surely must've died. Iwaizumi had been frustrated after, because he had actually sought a more peaceful end to it—Koushi had been dragged along in the first place likely to try to keep him in check. But instead of being frightened by Iwaizumi's rage Koushi had been enthralled. Koushi had watched with pure fascination as that power overcame Iwaizumi and he tore that pathetic creature apart, and it wasn't fear that had gripped Koushi's heart. It had been jealousy.

“Daichi, I want to tell you this,” Koushi said, and then took a deep breath before going on, “I believe that if Oikawa saw that you could rage like that, he would become frightened, and he would not come back.” He didn't think it would work, but they had no strategy at all. They had to do _something_.

Daichi seemed to be at war with himself, but finally he relaxed, and he said, “Fine.”

“So we'll do it then,” Koushi said. “The next time Oikawa comes knocking, we are going to answer the door.” He looked at the other two vampires, the closest thing he had to family, and the pair of them both nodded.

_xiii_

The rest of the day was tense. It seemed extended to Daichi, as if some unknown force had added an extra six hours to the afternoon. He spent the morning asleep, but had woken in the early afternoon. When he had woken Suga, he'd only barely managed to avoid a punch to the throat while the vampire had groggily sworn at him, so Daichi would just have to entertain himself with some more of Hinata's books.

When Suga finally woke up, Daichi asked him, “How do you stand it?”

“Stand what?” The vampire yawned, still coming to and gracelessly stretching out his limbs.

“The boredom,” Daichi said.

“Oh, well,” Suga said, “Usually I don't have to. I don't usually stay in small cities like this. I try to hang around major cities, so I can spread my prey around the city and not attract suspicion like I first did here.”

“Oh,” Daichi said.

“So usually I'm on the move, hunting, or scoping out new spots,” Suga said, “I don't like the thought of being recognized. Sometimes I spend time with other groups of vampires, but that's rare. I don't get along with most other vampires.”

“Are... most vampires like Oikawa?” Daichi said.

“Most vampires take blood bags over serial murders, like Oikawa,” Suga replied blandly, as if he were talking about the weather. “But his treatment of blood bags is a little unorthodox, especially outside of Japan. I think most foreign vampires would especially dislike his habit of getting all his blood bags hooked on opiates.”

Daichi began to ask, “Were you—”

“I was his fledgling at such a time that even for him opium was remarkably difficult to procure,” Suga said, “So I believe he did not start me on it because there was no guarantee he could get more, and I don't think he had any interest in a blood bag going through withdrawals. So I was spared from that unhappy experience.”

“That's terrifying,” Daichi said.

“Well,” Suga replied, “It is a very good way to control his blood bags, I will give him that. But from what I learned from European vampires, blood bags hooked on drugs tend not to last as long before they start refusing food, and it spoils the blood.”

“How considerate,” Daichi sneered.

“Some of them are slightly more concerned with the humane aspect of it,” Suga told him.

“Huh,” Daichi said, and then grew quiet. “So what does Hinata do all day, since he's not a traveler like you are?”

“Hinata has always preferred to have a home,” Suga agreed, “He likes to collect things. I know he does have a couple friendships with other vampires down in the Tokyo area, but I don't know much about those relationships. When he rented apartments, he would sometimes join neighborhood sporting associations. But he would never stay for more than a years in the area, so no one would notice that he wasn't aging or changing. But after he amassed enough wealth to buy his first house and started staying longer, he stopped participating in human activities.”

“That's... sad. It must be lonely,” Daichi replied.

“He does art, I think,” Suga said, “He never lets me see it, but sometimes when I've visited he's left things lying around, brushes and pens and the like. I think he destroys his work though.”

Daichi wondered how he would spend his own eternity, now that he had resigned himself to it. He said, “Once when I was talking with Kageyama, he talked about how you and Hinata just do nothing at all sometimes.”

“When you've lived for so long,” Suga replied, “Your perception of time changes. What is to me drifting off for a few hours is what its like for you to drift off for a few minutes. A little disconcerting, but no great loss of time.”

“Oh,” Daichi replied, and then turned hearing the stairs creek with someone's weight.

Hinata wandered downstairs, and said, “When do you think he'll come?”

“Hey may not come at all tonight,” Suga replied.

Hinata told him, in a rather pointed tone, “I think he is.”

“Well,” Suga replied, “I guess we'll have to wait.”

Daichi zoned out as Suga and Hinata started to argue back and forth with each other, as he often did. Even when they were trying to be serious he often lost track of what was happening when they talked.

He wondered if this was what Suga meant about not caring when you drifted off. He thought about Hinata and art for a bit, and then blurted out, interrupting Suga, “Hey Hinata, do you like to draw?”

The vampire looked affronted, and then he glared at Suga. “It's just for fun,” he said.

“Daichi, you're a traitor,” Suga told him, “And completely lacking in tact.”

“I was just wondering,” Daichi replied.

Their conversation was cut off abruptly by a knock on the door.

Never, in Daichi's life _before_ had a knock on the door been able to hold so much power as it did now. Suga swallowed visibly, and Hinata balled his hands into fists.

“Well,” Suga said, “we all came to an agreement, did we not?”

“Yeah,” Daichi agreed.

Hinata only nodded.

“Hinata,” Suga said, “I think you should answer the door, since it's your house.”

Hinata took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and then he said, “Alright.”

“I'll be right behind you,” Suga said, following Hinata as he got up. He put a hand on Hinata's shoulder as Hinata stood in front of the door, just as it shook with another heavy knock. Hinata exhaled once more, visibly releasing the tension from his shoulders, and then he turned the lock and opened the door.

“I can't believe that actually worked,” said a vampire with light brown hair that Daichi extrapolated just had to be Oikawa. It was strange to actually put a face to the name. This was the vampire that tormented them. This was the vampire that abducted Koushi. This was the vampire who made a game of kidnapping humans, of drugging them, and killing them.

He looked as if he could be kind, if it were not for the heinous smugness that he wore upon his face.

He was interrupted though, by the other vampire who accompanied him pushing him aside, he had to be Iwaizumi, Daichi thought, who said in a stunned tone to Hinata, “How are you alive?”

“What—what are you talking about?”

“I left you to die,” Iwaizumi said, his voice unnaturally even, “You were alone, you were supposed to die.”

“Wait—wait,” Hinata said, his voice wavering.

“Hinata, step aside,” Suga said, “You need to calm down.”

“Shut the hell up, Koushi,” Hinata growled, and then he said to Iwaizumi, “You're the—you're the one who did this to me?”

“Did this to you?” Iwaizumi said, his eyes narrowed. “You did it to yourself.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Hinata growled, lunging at the other vampire.

“Stop!” Suga yelled, grabbing Hinata's shoulder's and stopping him from getting any closer.

“I bit you,” Iwaizumi said, “You're the one who bit back.”

“No!” Hinata howled, “that can't be it—it can't,”

“You don't remember?” Iwaizumi countered, looking almost taken aback. His body was wrung tight with tension, but he wasn't curled to attacked, instead he had assumed a rather defensive pose.  
“Oikawa, just—get him away from him,” Suga said, speaking over Iwaizumi and addressing Oikawa, who just looked confused.

“You left a fresh fledgling to die?” Oikawa said, looking incredulously to his companion.

“I took so much blood from him,” Iwaizumi said, “I didn't think it was possible he could survive, much less transform,” he finished.

“Don't talk like I am dead, don't talk like I'm not here!” Hinata yelled. Suga had trouble holding him back, his arms looping through the the other vampires armpits, linking his hands over Hinata's chest as Hinata struggled trying to get free of him, his legs kicking as he thrashed.

“Hinata, you need to calm down,” Suga said, sounding worn out. Daichi felt frozen—he was so over his head, and never had he seen Hinata, who was usually mild mannered, so angry.

“Get away from me, Koushi!” Hinata cried again. He thrashed, and managed to bite Suga's arm, his teeth sinking into the soft and tender flesh there. Suga let out a howl of pain, and reflexively let go of Hinata to grab at the wound before he realized what he'd done.  
Hinata threw himself at Iwaizumi, his fingers and rough nails scrabbling at his face. The vampire coiled himself defensively, and easily knocked down the much smaller body, throwing him roughly onto the floor. The back of Hinata's head collided roughly with the bottom stair, and Daichi heard a nasty _clack_ as Hinata's jaw snapped shut on impact and his teeth collided with each other. Daichi grabbed Suga, barely able to hold him back as Suga bared himself in an attempt to retaliate against Iwaizumi.

Daichi was so, so afraid. This was the same gut wrenching, world changing fear he'd felt that fateful day that Suga had pulled him to the ground in that alleyway and had fed from him.

“You didn't want to die then, but now you do?” Iwaizumi snarled at Hinata, and stamped his foot down roughly on Hinata's chest, making a sickening crack and Hinata's ribs snapped. Hinata let out a wet and raspy yowl of pain, and attempted to turn on his side as Iwaizumi kicked him again.  
Iwaizumi's face was colored red as he breathed heavily. Oikawa grabbed him, trying to hold him back, and suddenly the fear Daichi was feeling evaporated and left only anger in his wake. He let go of Suga and stepped over Hinata to deck Iwaizumi in the jaw. It hurt—his knuckles flashed hotly in pain on impact but something about it seemed to bring some clarity back to Iwaizumi, whose expression quickly changed as Oikawa tried to tighten his grip on him.

“Oh my god,” Iwaizumi said. Daichi focused on the cut skin in one of his eyebrows were Hinata had managed to draw blood, and the way his other eye was beginning to swell shut, as if Hinata had gotten his finger in there—he probably had. Daichi had to keep his own anger under control.

“Get away,” Suga snarled from behind him. Daichi couldn't see him, but he figured Suga was probably curling himself over Hinata.

“I'm sorry, I,” Iwaizumi began to say, but Daichi cut him off.

“Get away from us,” he told him “Haven't you both caused enough pain here?”

“Let's leave, Hajime,” Oikawa said, pulling him back towards the door. “Let's go.”

“Okay, okay,” Iwaizumi agreed, and the pair stumbled across the stoop onto the doorstep. Daichi shut the door as soon as their bodies were through, and turned the lock.

Suga was kneeling over Hinata. He tugged him away from the stairs, and cupped the back of Hinata's head with his palm, as one might hold an infant.

“Hinata, can you talk to me?” Suga asked him.

Hinata tried to respond, but he couldn't speak, and instead coughed again, the sound was wet and almost sticky.

“Iwaizumi could've punctured his lung when he broke his ribs,” Daichi said, “He'd have trouble breathing to talk,” Daichi said.

“You're probably right,” Suga sighed.

“Will he make it?” Daichi asked, getting onto his knees and rubbing Hinata's cheek. Hinata blinked sluggishly at him, and let out a whine.

“It takes a lot more than this to kill a vampire,” Suga said, “he's just going to be in a lot of pain while he heals,” he explained. “Hinata,” he said, cupping his jaw, directing Hinata's attention to himself, “We're going to put you on your bed, okay?”

Hinata grunted, then coughed again. Daichi winced at the noise.

“I'll support his head if you get his legs,” Suga said.

“Got it,” Daichi said. Following Suga's lead, Daichi supported Hinata by his knees and the small of his back, while Suga held him just below his ribs and around his neck. It was careful work getting him up the stairs, as Hinata made strangled noises of pain whenever pressure was put on the spots he'd been hurt or when he was jostled wrong.

It was a process, but they got him up and into his bedroom and onto the bed. Once he'd been settled into a comfortable position, Hinata drifted off to sleep.

_xiv_

After they'd settled Hinata to sleep, Daichi and Suga had fallen into an uneasy silence. Daichi began to tidy the foyer, which had seen some damage in the fight. A ceramic figurine had been knocked off the shelf by the door, which had shattered, along with the blood that had gotten onto the floor.  
As Daichi was just finishing cleaning up the hydrogen peroxide, there was a knock on the door. He stiffened, and then set aside the the cleaning materials, out of sight. He was about to look through the peephole when there was another knock, and a shout of “City police!”

Daichi threw open the door at that, and said, “What is it?”

Two men in uniform stood at the door, both of them looking clearly agitated. This was the first time Daichi had seen a living, breathing human since his transformation, and it was slightly disorienting.

“We've received a call about a domestic disturbance from a neighbor, is everything alright?” One of the officers said.

“Uh,” Daichi began, feeling spineless and unsure of how to respond.

Thankfully, Suga appeared, sticking his head in from the living room, and said, “We're just fine now officer, thank you for your concern.”

“Now, are we sure about that?” The officer said, obviously looking a bit suspicious.

“We have some extended family visiting,” Suga said, and if Daichi thought about that it wasn't _really_ a lie, especially after what they had learned about Iwaizumi... “Tempers got a little heated, but everything is fine for now. They've gone back to their hotel for the evening.”

“Well,” the first officer look at the other.

“Please, officer, if you wouldn't mind leaving,” Suga pushed a little bit harder, “Nothing is wrong here, we're just trying to get ready for bed.”

Suga sweet talked, or maybe strong armed, the officers until they finally left.

Once they were gone, Daichi asked the question that was really on his mind. “How are we going to heal Hinata?”

“Well,” Suga sighed, “He's really weak right now, so unless we get some blood in him, he's not going to make any progress, so...”

“Can he feed from you?” Daichi asked.

“I don't know if you've noticed,” Suga sighed, “But I haven't fed since you were human. I'm really weak right now, too, so it wouldn't do him much good.”

“Oh,” Daichi said.

“There are... other ways,” Suga said, “But I think what his system needs right now is some human blood. He hasn't been feeding much either, so a kill would do him some good at this point...”

“So, you need to get him a meal?” Daichi asked.

“Well,” Suga said, “I want to keep an eye on him,” Suga looked away, sounding supremely uncomfortable. “He's in a pretty unstable condition right now, and if he deteriorates and I'm not here... well, you wouldn't have any idea how to help him. I wanted to wait awhile before you had to go hunting, and I wanted to do it with you, but Daichi...” Suga ducked his head in guilt, “Daichi, I need you to bring home a kill for us.”

“I don't know how,” Daichi said, suddenly feeling anxious. He didn't know if he could do this yet.

“Take the car,” Suga said, “and pick someone up. You're an attractive man,” he told Daichi, leaning close and touching his chest, “You should be able to do it.”

“Okay,” Daichi said, figuring if he must, he will. He cared for Hinata, and to see him in agony earlier had made Daichi's blood run cold. He just wanted Hinata to be better.

So Daichi took a credit card and the car keys, and went out.

It felt like a strange thing to be doing, getting in the car and starting the ignition. It felt extremely normal and routine, in a way his life hadn't been ever since his transformation. The engine came to life, and the radio crackled with a public radio station playing late night jazz.

Really, the night was young, Daichi thought. It was only eleven thirty—surely he could go downtown to a bar and pick someone up? It couldn't be that hard, the way Suga talked about it that was basically Suga's entire way of life.

He found a place to park near when of the clubs. He hoped no one would recognize him—he'd never been into partying and all that as a student, he was a bit reserved and had always felt uncomfortable, and the friends he'd made had reflected that. So hopefully there wouldn't be anyone there he knew.

He got out of the car and purchased a parking slip, putting it on the dash before locking the car and shoving the keys in his pocket. He stalked towards the club, and the bouncer let him in without any fuss.

Once he was inside, he knew he'd made the right choice back when he was... alive (he still felt alive now, it seemed like a hard thing to distinguish) to not go out clubbing. The lights were flashing and the music was so loud he could feel it reverberating in his chest, hard and heavy. He paid the cover charge and a staff member stamped his hand without any fuss, and he quickly scoped out the place to try and figure out the best way to act single and unobtrusive.

He purchased a beer at the bar, and tipped the bartender generously, and then went to leave against the wall, pretending to nurse the beer and people watch. It wasn't very busy yet, people were only just starting to filter in and fill up the dance floor.

He felt lonely here, he realized. He wondered how Suga did it, wandering alone as the decades past, whiling away his days asleep in whatever shelter he could find, and his nights in places like these, all alone and looking for a meal. It seemed like such a dismal and bleak life.

When he let Suga change him, when he asked for Suga to change him, he figured that they would always be together. But Suga had often spoken about not enjoying the company of other vampires, and how he had let Hinata go because Hinata would need to strike out on his own at some point. Would he abandon Daichi sometime? Daichi hoped not, as that icy fear gripped heart, because Suga and Hinata were the only things he had to hold onto in this new life, and if they abandoned him no matter what they taught him, what wisdom was imparted on him, he thought for sure he would drown.

He tried to swallow his anxieties and focus on the task at hand. He had to find somebody to bring home, so that Hinata could live. This was the life he had accepted—maybe he wasn't killing somebody tonight, but he certainly was as good as killing them.

He scanned the room, spotting a girl dancing in a group who seemed drunker than her friends, dancing wildly with a skin tight dress plastered against her skin, which had grown sweaty just from dancing. He decided to try with her first.

Setting his untouched beer down on the shelf along the wall, Daichi sauntered onto the dance floor and awkwardly tried to dance, trying not to look like he'd gotten onto the dance floor just for that one girl. He felt like a dad when he danced.

Moving closer, he grabbed the girl's hips, awkwardly drawing her closer to his own body. Thankfully, the girl responded in turn by grinding herself against him, her friends cat calling her.

The girl danced sensually against his body. She was lush and curvy—her bottom was plush and soft and Daichi had to concentrate on the reason he was here at all—and the fact that he had a boyfriend.

His brain was wiped clean when the girl turned herself around and tugged him down to kiss him. Daichi had to focus—his job was to seduce her and bring her home... then it was all out of his hands. So he kissed her back, reciprocating her drunken intensity. She was sloppy, her kisses hard and bruising as she pressed her body on his.

He basically let her have her way, tugging him around the dance floor, making out with him and making feeble efforts to dance to the music for a good half an hour. He offered to buy her a drink, and brought her up to one of the seating areas near the door.

She sipped the drink quickly, between talking Daichi's ear off about... something, he couldn't really make out what she was saying with the blaring music, so he just pretended to, agreeing with her whenever it seemed useful to do so.

When she finished her drink, Daichi picked it up and set it aside on the other end of the table. “Want to get out of here?” He asked her.

The girl giggled and agreed, and quickly located her slip for her jacket at the coat check, and with that Daichi had succeeded in his first hunt.

_xv_

Daichi had done well, Koushi thought. The girl he brought back had been thoroughly intoxicated, and hadn't realized anything was wrong until the door was already shut and Koushi had knocked her out cold. He told Daichi to go to sleep, and with his fledgling taken care of he carefully hoisted the girl up, and carried her up the stairs. He hoped Hinata would heal quickly, and they wouldn't have to do this many more times, because she was heavy and this was hard.

Once he got her up the stairs, he basically threw her on the bed, and then he woke Hinata. Hinata's eyes opened wild in pain, but when he sensed the body next to him, his instincts took over. He didn't even ackowledge Koushi, he simply attached himself to her neck and began to messily drink. Koushi afforded him the privacy to do so in peace.

After about forty five minutes had passed, he let himself back in. The girl's body lay stiff and lifeless on the bed now, and Hinata was curled up. “Are you awake?” Koushi ventured, stepping into the room.

“Yes,” Hinata said quietly.

Koushi sat down on the bed, pushing the body aside to get next to Hinata, curling an arm around his small body. Hinata winced a little when he moved his chest in a funny way, trying to snuggle closer to Koushi.

“I just...” Hinata ventured, “I never thought that I would find out who my creator was.”

“I didn't either,” Koushi comforted him, his fingers moving up to Hinata's head, curling in his hair and pulling softly on the curly strands, not hard enough to hurt.

“I knew whoever created me didn't mean for me to live... but it was still hard to have it confirmed like that,” Hinata finally said, his lip trembling as he said it.

“It doesn't matter who created you in the end,” Koushi said, “Iwaizumi has no place in your life, and you shouldn't care what he thinks,” he said, brushing a strand of hair behind Hinata's ear. “Daichi and I love you, is that not enough?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your (extended) patience.
> 
> Next chapter is _The Healing Process_.


End file.
